Yowai Yume Ai REMASTERED
by Brigadier-Erin-Lightning
Summary: The long-awaited sequel to Toki Ni Ai. Two years following Roy Mustang's brush with fate during a failed human transmutation attempt, Edward returns with a request that will raise the stakes even higher and end in an epic showdown between love and death.
1. Chapter I: The Dog's Return

"**Yowai Yume Ai"**

**A fanfiction by Erin Lightning**

__

"This world that we live in is based on one principle, and one principle alone: the principle of equivalent exchange. For everything we gain in life, whether it be a friend, a new title, or even a new toy, we lose something of equal importance – a comrade, a lover, a nation. And with each sacrifice, we learn more and more the meaning of sorrow, of suffering. Sometimes, sure, to create a mighty statue in worship of a higher power, we lose a lousy block of wood, a few trees, a couple stones. Not really a big deal. But, then you realize what if, in a few thousand years, that which we sacrificed becomes scarce? If everyone keeps taking, it's not only things we lose, or places, or people – but time itself; we'll always keep losing. And what do we gain when all of this is over? Nothing but our own selfish pride..." Roy set down the mahogany pen with which he had been scrawling out his memoirs in the long, languid hand of an accomplished businessman. He sighed, and scratched his head.

How to write this? Damned FullMetal; Roy Mustang was a state alchemist, not some novelist or poetic fanatic. He had no need to be sentimental. He'd no need to be compassionate. Still...

Snatching back the utensil, he added to his current work: "I've experimented far more than enough with equivalent exchange in my time. Two years ago, in fact, only a miserable seven hundred and something days ago, I was willing to trade my rank as a Colonel in this damnable military for the lives of the comrades I most cherished. I paid the ultimate price then: Breda, Fury, Falman, and yes, my dearest Riza, were taken from me in the blink of an eye by a youth who called himself naught but a homunculus, and whose very features have since been ingrained in my mind - a plague that just won't go away. Foolish. I was foolish, and even after, more foolish, for my pride wouldn't allow me to just accept the deaths that I had allowed to happen before my eyes – in order to gain the life of my fallen first lieutenant, I made the decision to sacrifice myself. Human transmutation. I failed, miserably, but the backfire did not hit me." He paused. Thought. Continued: "The fates would not allow such a thing. Instead, my alchemy backfired on the boy who was brave enough, or perhaps stupid enough, to think my life was worth anything. Edward Elric. In trying to protect me, he lost his memory."

"Right now, I can understand your thoughts. Believe me, I can. You're thinking, if I was idiotic enough to go this far, perhaps I should take the hint by now and back down. Well, call me a complete idiot, I don't care. Instead I..." he paused, brows furrowing, "I wanted to get the mythical cure-all, the Philosopher's Stone, to fix my screwed up life and mend Full Metal's memory. Not to mention all the others I hurt along the way. I kept trading, and trading and...In the homunculi's den, I almost lost Ed for good, but then..." He stopped, contemplated, then wrote, "But that's another story. It's been exactly two years now. Two years to the day since we launched a deadly assault on the ringleader of all that terror, the homunculus known as Envy, and destroyed him completely. Two years since Edward and I parted ways at the station in Central and vowed not to see each other again until...well, until today."

He smiled to himself, a dreamy look in his eyes as he scratched out the words, "Today, FullMetal Alchemist is coming home. I can't..." A sudden interruption stirred the Colonel mid-thought. Small matter or not, he would not return again to this very journal for eight long months, though at the time, he was unaware of this fact.

As for the interruption, the door to the Colonel's office had been burst wide open and, standing there with a huge and triumphant look upon his face, the FullMetal chibi launched himself through the Colonel's doorway, long hair tied back in the same style as his father and his tattered red jacket hanging off his shoulder like red drapery. "MUSTANG!" he sang, "I'M BAACK!"

In the split second before he was attacked, one could have sworn that a small smile etched itself across Taisa's usually stony lips, and he turned his desk chair to embrace young FullMetal mid-flight. Edward's arms, both the mechanical and the fleshen, wrapped themselves tight around Roy's shoulders, and tears of joy sprung to his eyes even as he felt the chair upon which Roy was seated wobble with a lack of balance and unceremoniously tip backwards, dragging the pair down with it. Both quickly found themselves on the floor, Edward atop Roy, pinning him and burying his head against the older man's chest in an oddly intimate manner.

Roy sweat dropped. A look of scorn came to his face, but there was no way to stay mad at Ed. His heart did a back flip inside of him and watching Edward use him for a tissue, he almost felt the urge to cry himself, though his composure would not allow it. For twenty-four months, he'd been waiting for this. And now that it was happening, he realized he had never felt happier in his life. His hand slid behind Edward's neck, and he tugged the blonde towards him even tighter, the sudden urge to never let him go again drowning out all of Mustang's more reasonable senses.

"It's been a long time, Ed," whispered Roy. "I-I've missed you, too."

**To Be Continued**


	2. Chapter II: The Heart Which Beats

"**Yowai Yume Ai"**

**A fanfiction by Erin Lightning**

**Chapter II  
**

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_"Edward, please exercise some degree of caution the next time you come barreling into my office," Roy said, brushing his raven hair back out of his eyes and casting Edward a somewhat scornful gaze. His legs were propped up on the polished oaken desk behind which he sat, composed once more. Edward, on the other hand, stretched lazily out on the couch before Roy, giving a soft, but contented yawn. Roy sighed. "Such behavior would be marked by some as deplorable, understand?"_

_Ed rolled his eyes in Roy's direction, gave him a look of the utmost boredom, and then his metallic hand curved, the fingers coming together to imitate a moving mouth. This got a rise from Roy, who twitched, his fist slamming softly against the table._

_"Edward Elric, are you MOCKING me?" Roy asked, indignant._

_Ed smirked. It was quite clear that this Elric was no longer the young boy Mustang had once remembered him to be. He was seventeen now, a prime age, his hair much longer and tied back in a ponytail. His eyes had a weathered look that seemed far beyond his age, and, if Roy looked carefully, he could see pain etched around those haunted orbs. His traditional black jacket had been open last time Roy had seen him, held together only by a metal bar just below the neck. Now, it was open with a black shirt underneath, and Roy noted that the red coat worn over this jacket was much longer, and an even deeper crimson in color. His giant, clunking boots were more form-fitting. The gloves had been all-together disposed of, or were at least missing at this time._

_All-and-all, Elric was a lot less "childish" now. At least in appearance. His attitude was still the same as always, however._

_"Nah," Ed replied. "Now, why would I do a thing like that?" His hand slipped behind his back, an impish grin spanning his features._

_Roy closed his eyes, sighed and shook his head, a cocky, playful grin on his lips. "Because you can and because you know I'm a sucker for a pretty face." One eye opened to gauge Ed's reaction, but Roy was surprised to find he had not riled the boy. In fact, Edward seemed to take Colonel's tease for a compliment. In earlier days, he would have blanched at the same statement. Roy's grin turning to a satisfied smirk, he finished, "You know I wouldn't flame you. Intentionally."_

_Ed grinned back. "Suuure you wouldn't." He leaned forward and, taunting, asked, "It's been two years and that's STILL the best line you can think of, Taisa?" _

_Roy shrugged, spinning his chair so that his back was facing Ed. "Okay, maybe that was a little lie, and, Edward, you forget, I'm a military man. I have no need for originality."_

_Ed chuckled. "Little lie?"_

_Mustang's eyebrow raised. He cast one eye over his shoulder to look at Ed. "What are you playing at Elric? You've become more..." Roy drummed his fingers on the desk, his mind savoring the words which floated aimlessly through his mind in an attempt to pick out the right ones to say. "Sure of yourself.."_

_"Well, you didn't think that I was just going to let you push me around forever, did you?" Ed asked, hoisting one leg over the arm of the couch, letting the other leg dangle off the side. "You learn, eventually. Here or there. I ____ haven't been away for these last two years for nothing, you know.__"_

_"Oh really?" Roy replied, giving Edward one of those blank, blinking stares that seemed to say, 'I'm listening'._

_Ed sighed and pulled himself to a sitting position again. His human hand ran back through his hair and he took in a deep breath before he spoke. His words were calm, his face solemn, but Roy could practically taste the bitterness in FullMetal's voice, "Not all stories have to have a happy ending, Mustang."_

_Roy's eyebrow raised again and he chanced another glance back at Edo. When he spoke again, his voice was sharper. He didn't like this game. "You're being vague again, Elric. Get to the point."_

_Ed looked across the room, directly at Roy. His icy eyes narrowed sharply, their bright gaze focused and burning with his thoughts and the mystery hidden deep within his voice. And pain. A deep, deep-rooted pain that no voice could express. After a moment, his legs slipped from the couch and he stood up, making his way over to Roy's desk with an excruciatingly slow gait. When finally he reached Roy, he stood behind the Taisa, his hands slipping around the chair in which Mustang was positioned._

_Roy's heart fluttered involuntarily at the tender touch of his companion, a lover he hadn't seen in so long that Roy was almost afraid to admit now that he wasn't even playing the game on the same level as Ed. So much had happened over the last two years to himself, so how was he not to expect that Ed had seen his fair share of the world as well? He couldn't even get inside the boy's head anymore!  
_

_Roy tried to turn back towards Ed, but the boy sharply intoned, "Don't look."_

_Roy blinked and almost told Edward off, but he knew there was a reason for this madness and so, with a mind full of questions, he waited. Finally, he heard the young alchemist's soft voice instruct, "Your hand, Roy. Let me see your hand."_

_Confused, Roy lifted his right hand and reached up to lay his fingers over the cool metal of the boy's arm, stroking it with a sweet passion and tenderness that he wouldn't show through words, nor through expression - only this physical touch. Roy could remember the last time he had seen Ed. He had been a wreck, and he had definitely shown that to Ed more then once. There were no secrets between the two; each was the only one to know the true inner demons lying beneath the other's mask of a visage. So why now was Edward hiding from him? He demanded to know - surely the urgency of his touch communicated this to the boy.  
_

_Edward complied by taking Roy's hand in his own, reaching it back to lay against the inside of the boy's jacket. Roy drew a hesitant breath, before Edward began moving the Taisa's searching hand to lift his midnight shirt and rest against the warm flesh beneath the layers of clothing. Roy's heart raced, his shoulders tensing, yet it was clear that FullMetal did not mean for this to be an intimate experience. Roy knew this, and he couldn't help but want to ask, 'Am I being toyed with? FullMetal's pawn now? Have the tables turned on me?'_

_Instead, he said, his voice cracking from the tension that was climaxing between the two, "Ed, I don't see what this has to do with-"_

_"Do you feel it?" Ed whispered, a lack of emotion in his voice which threw Roy entirely off-balance._

_"Feel...?"_

_Edward moved Roy's hand to rest directly over his heart, and Roy did indeed "feel it". The soft, pulsing throb like the beat of a heart. Now, this wouldn't have been so strange, except for the fact that Roy Mustang knew, for sure, that FullMetal did not possess the definition of a human heart. FullMetal's heart was a fake. It was a Philosopher's Stone, which Roy himself had given the boy in a last-ditch effort to save Edward Elric's life after a nasty run-in with the homunculus Envy two years ago._

_Roy blinked, looking back over his shoulder now without thinking and in complete and utter shock, though he tried to hide it. "Ed, care to explain?" he asked._

_The boy's head was lowered, golden bangs shielding his tortured eyes as he spoke the cruel, bitter reality. "The Stone...it just...started acting up one day. I don't know, Mustang, what's going on. But, it feels like my chest is getting tighter. Something's happening to me. I...I can't stop it..." His head turned fully away. "It's like I'm being eaten...from the inside."_

_Roy stifled a gasp. His eyes narrowed at once, and his voice was sharp, and commanding. "Edward!"  
_

_"That's why," Ed said, passively, "I'm looking for a real, genuine, pure stone. A true Philosopher's Stone. I have to find it. For my brother, and for myself." His eyes, shaded by those golden locks of his, glanced in Roy's direction, and Mustang caught the look of torture, pain, sorrow, buried deep within them. "I'm...I'm running out of time, Mustang. And I need your help."_

**To Be Continued**


	3. Chapter III: The Wedding

_**"Yowai Yume Ai"  
A fanfiction by Erin Lightning**_

__

**Chapter III**

_It was finally the big night. After two years of waiting, after two years of hoping, of praying to her Gods and reciting her love, Winry Rockbell was getting married to Jean Havoc. Havoc; why Havoc? Perhaps it was that gorgeous body she had first laid eyes on, the hair so plush and golden, the chiseled face of a man who had been through more then he let on, those sharp blue eyes that felt like an entire sea spanned before her. Or the fact that Havoc enjoyed her automail work when she was dealing with his metallic arm, an old battle scar that often acted up and needed much repairing. Or maybe it had been his words of finality, the echoed words of a comrade who sat outside of his friends' room, and knew what went on inside, but could only stand by and watch._

_Birds of a feather flock together, Winry thought sadly. All her life, Alphonse had always been the one beside Edward. When the time came for them to fight, Winry had never been a help. In fact, she had been the source of the problem more often than the solution. She had to face the fact that everyone had already known: that she had never been anything more then the girl next door. Did Edward even know that she had loved him? It didn't matter anymore, she decided. After all this time, she finally had found some fellow feeling in someone. Jean Havoc._

_Yet still..._

_"Miss Winry! It's one hour until the ceremony! We have to get your dress on!" Sheska cried, darting like a common field mouse from a dark corner of the room and trying ever so hard not to trip over her own flowing white dress as she buried her nose in a book. Winry was not surprised to see the title, "Weddings for Dummies", yet it still brought a sweatdrop to roll down her face. She sighed, but couldn't help the smile etched upon her feminine features. Sheska tried, she really did, and Winry was sure the girl would make a fine bridesmaid._

_"Here, let me help you with that," Winry offered as Sheska darted back out of the storage room, her arms laden with corsets and silver trim, a long pink dress and a lacy top to fit over it. Just looking at the outfit, Winry thought she would die. All those layers of clothing...Her smile widened and a wicked, if not playful thought played itself through her head, 'Maybe I should wear the tuxedo.'  
_

_Sheska gladly relinquished the corset, which Winry busily slipped her petite frame into, muttering curses as Sheska made a rather dogged attempt to lace up the back of it correctly. "My goodness, Miss Winry, you've grown a lot in the last two years.." the bookworm mumbled, beaming up at Winry and causing the blonde to blush. "I remember back when I first met you...you were just a little girl then."_

_Winry laughed through gritted teeth as the corset was pulled too tight. "Hey! You were just as little as I was!"_

_Sheska smiled. "I know but still...you look more grown-up then I ever could. Your hair's so long now! It almost touches the floor. It's so hard to tie this lace with your hair hanging over it! Shouldn't I cut it?"_

_'I like your hair long,' Winry heard the words of the younger Edward in her head almost too suddenly, and her eyes widened in confusion. Ed? 'It's...pretty...' She smiled. Ah, yes, that she remembered too well. That was the day that she had first been proposed too, and by both Elrics no less. She'd been a fool not to promise herself to both of them at that very second. Maybe then..."No, Ed-I mean, I like it long."_

_Sheska raised an eyebrow at Winry and slowly helped lift the pink garment over the bride's head. The book was lowered from her face for a split second, and her words were uttered with a little confusion, and a lot of knowing. "Are you sure you want to do this?"_

_Winry blinked and crawled into the dress, slipping it over her shoulders and mumbling something to herself about being able to fit Alphonse in the gigantic thing. "Of course I want to marry Havoc!" she replied sharply. "I mean, why shouldn't I? He's good, and honest...he might be a smoker, but he's kind...and even if he is a pervert, at least he's not just a stick in the mud like Ed..."_

_"And not an alchemist," chimed in Sheska as she positioned the long sleeve of the shining dress on Winry's shoulder._

_"Yes, and not an alchemist. He's loyal and faithful, he would never do anything to harm me..."_

_"He doesn't put you constantly into danger, and he remembers his check-ups."_

_"That's right," Winry's hand clutched into a fist. "He's obediant, secure, he damn-well listens to what I say..."_

_"He doesn't fight you back..."_

_"And I never have to hit him with a wrench!" Winry's hand slammed against the table nearby and her head dropped to her chest just as Sheska was trying to slip the lace cover over it. Her shoulders twitched, her eyes twitched, and for some reason she couldn't get his picture out of her head. Ed's face. Smiling, laughing, crying..._

_"And...?"_

_"And..." mumbled Winry hesitantly, "he's not Edward..." Her legs collapsed and she sat down dejectedly in a nearby seat, her head hung in her hands. The look on her face was bitter with nostalgia, but one couldn't say that it looked particularly sorrowful, nor was it bright and cheery. "He's not Ed..." she repeated._

_Sheska, now having lost all faith in getting the lace on Winry, sighed and slipped it into the seat beside her, taking up the one on the other side. She looked from her book to Winry, repeated the heavy sigh, and laid the book aside on the table, instead placing Winry's slender hand into her own, and holding it tightly, as if they were two best friends, sharing a childish secret. "It's like some juicy romance novel. Girl loves Guy. Guy loves other Guy. Oh the thrilling twists and turns, for the girl can never have the boy she loves, and the boy can never have his lover because of the cruel fate of society! It's," she blew her nose on a tissue, "so touching..."_

_"Don't be so quick to judge," Winry mumbled. "I've know Ed since he was a little kid. He'll go playing with people's feelings without even knowing it, but he'll never really love anyone."_

_"I'm not so sure," Sheska said, wiping her glasses on the same tissue she had used but moments before. "There's a hidden romance behind the main plot, I just have the intuition for this! That Taisa-"_

_"Enough, okay?" Winry muttered darkly, pushing back the tears from her eyes at the same time as she rejected Sheska's hand. This was supposed to be the happiest night of her life! Why did she feel so down? Oh, if only Edward was here. Him and Alphonse had run off for the last two years and now he would miss her wedding! She didn't even know the boy anymore, so it was really silly to think that he still had feelings for her, now wasn't it? But...if only circumstances had been different...No! She loved Havoc, what was she thinking? There was nothing between her and Ed, and if there ever had been, it was over. She loved Havoc. End of story. But..._

_Winry, upon Sheska's sudden and fearful silence, stood, and crept towards the door of the church, peering in. There was just one little thing that Winry knew she would never be prepared for: Roy Mustang, the best man. She gulped and gave a typical Winry face, her mouth and eyes dropping in an "Oh no" way. How could she look into those superior eyes, those eyes that constantly taunted that he had had something of Ed that Winry hadn't? No, mustn't think about this. She liked Havoc! that was final!_

_"It's starting to rain," Sheska stated, her head tilted towards the roof of the small back room. Sure enough, Winry could make out the soft pitter-patter of raindrops against the wood, couldn't mistake the rumbling roll of thunder as the storm came in. Her semi-smile faded quite quickly, and she found herself sadly thinking, 'It's just like...that night...' Her mind flashed to that night, almost ten years ago now, when Edward and Alphonse had been shoved into their current bodies by their unspeakable act. The look on Edward's face, clutching his stump of an arm and weakening in Alphonse's gigantic arms..._

_Two years earlier, he had almost lost his entire body. Winry remembered the soft rain, the miserable-sounding voice of her beloved on the phone, relaying the news that Ed might have died, that he had lost his memory, that he needed new automail. It always seemed that whenever the rain came it was a bad omen, a sign that Edward had once again taken to the skies like and once again had been shot down for his ignorance._

_This night was no exception, Winry would come to find, as a knock sounded from the outside door, and a deep, horrible feeling settled in the very pit of her stomach, washing her mouth with the metallic taste of dread._

_"I wonder who that is so late at-" Sheska reached for the door handle, the book back in her hand, but not for long, for she quickly dropped it the second the door opened and..._

_"EDWARD!" screamed Winry in a shrill voice, just seconds before a bloody hand laid itself tight over her mouth._

**To Be Continued**


	4. Chapter IV: Pain And Anguish

_**"Yowai Yume Ai"  
A fanfiction by Erin Lightning**_

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**Chapter IV**

_"Roy?" Edward asked, casting an unsure glance from white-gloved hands, which seemed so small and frail, there in the lap of what had only been a young boy several years before, to the obsidian-haired man seated beside him in the pew. A young boy…with a life, with a meaning…_

_"Edward, I'd rather not talk about it right now," Roy replied, his voice the softest undertone, his eyes glaring unemotionally ahead of him. It was hard to tell if he was really as dark as he seemed right now, or if that mask of his had only been placed there to hide feelings that would probably have driven Edward Elric to such sorrow, to feelings that would have brought Mustang's own demise._

_"So you're just going to pretend that nothing's happened? Is that what you plan on doing, huh, tell me, is it? Maybe if you pretend everything's alright, then it will just…then I'll just…"_

_"You'll?"_

_"…go away…"_

_Roy's eyes, eagle-sharp and probing like the eye of some automatic machine, curved downwards from the beautiful stained glass window at the front of the room, towards Edward. The boy, no, the young man that these eyes fixed upon blinked up in confusion, catching the fearsome, angered glance in his comrade, his friend. "I'm not pretending."_

_"So you don't care then?"  
_

_"I do."_

_"Then…why…?"_

_"FullMetal, are you really that naïve, that selfish? Two of your closest friends, and my very best, are getting married tonight. I'm the best man, even. Can't you see that I'm worried to death about you; I have been since the day you left me again. No; before that. However, this is one of those times that a trained soldier learns to put aside his fears. For the sake of others, I have to…" His eyes broke away again, and Roy found himself looking at his own hands, cupped in the lap of a black tuxedo he had thought he would never wear._

_Mustang's heart ached. How long had it even been since he had dragged this old thing out of the closet? In fact, he had almost not come tonight; he could have lied and said he didn't have the clothes for it…It hurt too much to be here, it hurt to feel the caressing touch of memories that would never be. Because, you see, this tuxedo…this beautiful, immaculately fitted tuxedo, with it's deep cushiony black velvet and its soft silk…this was the very tuxedo that Riza Hawkeye, before her demise (at his hands no less!) had helped him pick out. He had told her that he needed dress clothes; and she had helped him find this. In fact, he had even sworn in spite of himself, that when he had finally mustered the courage to propose…this would be his outfit for the big night._

_But that lay aside now, all those thoughts, in a dusty old box in the corner of his room. Broken dreams, like tiny shards of a broken mirror by which he had once stared at the image of himself with hope, lay locked away from the suns' light, from the light of a heart that felt their tiny cuts every time they came to him. He tightened his hands in his lap. Every life, every tarnished dream, a new weight upon himself. Every lost cause, every step down the road and away from the sun, a new hate, a new pain. Hughes. Hawkeye. Breda, Fury, Falman. Edward…_

_"Mustang, are you listening?" Havoc's hand shook Roy's shoulder fiercely, a panic spreading across the young blonde's face as Roy's eyes became clear once more, his little thoughts fading into the background._

_"Hm?"_

_"I can't decide! The white rose, the red one, the black one, which am I supposed to wear?" Havoc asked, holding up a handful of rather fondled roses which looked a little over-handled. Okay, maybe a lot over-handled, but you had to give the guy credit; Havoc was dealing pretty well with the stress right now. And how handsome the blonde looked - his spiked hair brushed mostly back for once, face clean-shaven. His body was muscular and powerful beneath the dove-white suit which he wore, his hands covered by white gloves like Edward's to hide the fact that only one was real._

_Roy's eyes fell from the icy blue ones of the man, to the right hand, covered in the soft cloth and holding the roses. It was almost hard to think that beneath this was a hand of cold, solid steel, a prosthetic automail limb fashioned after the nightmare that had been the last war._

_Roy cocked a soft smile; well, like he had told FullMetal, now wasn't the time for such idle chatter. "The red one looks quite dashing, Havoc," he lied. It actually looked like the only one that hadn't been crushed to death; but it would do._

_"I-I'm so…so nervous…what if…what if, oh god, Roy, what if she backs out? I'll never get another girlfriend!" Havoc's hand, twitching spasmodically, reached for his pocket, for the familiar comfort of his cigarettes, but Edward, reaching past Roy, stopped him._

_"Don't worry, Havoc. I know Winry; if she's decided to marry you, she won't back out." Elric said, offering the kindest of smiles to the other officer, a smile that made Roy's heart heavy. Beneath that cute boy facade, Mustang could see the hurt in Ed's eyes that still lingered from only moments ago. For a moment, he could swear that he was looking at the eyes of a stranger, because, even beneath that hurt, he noted a sort of sinister, wicked sort of light, as if there was more to all this than Ed let on. He hadn't noticed he had been staring until Edward gave him a pointed look, and Havoc's voice interrupted their gazes.  
_

_Havoc's eyes widened, and his unsure look relaxed somewhat into practically a grin. "E-Elric, you're back. I-I didn't think you'd ever drag your sorry hide back to this place…wow, you've grown, kid. I-I mean boss…"_

_"Come on, Havoc, I wouldn't miss this for anything in the world. You know that." The blonde replied, nonchalantly.  
_

_"Y-yeah, I guess not…"_

_"Relax," said Edward. "Everything will work out." Under his breath, he muttered, "For all of us."_

_"That's right," Roy finally said, his voice weaker then usual, doing his hardest not to crack under the pressure of the moment. His hand quivered as it moved from his lap to reach forward and clasp Ed's automail hand in his own. He offered the boy the slightest of smiles. "Everything…will be fine…"_

_Edward, his eyes gentle and tender, looked to Roy, then to their intertwined hands, weaving his fingers around the other man's. "Taisa…"_

_**--**_

_"Who…who are you?" Winry blurted as the bloody hand fell from her mouth, her large oceanic eyes gazing out defiantly at the newcomer, whose body was hidden by a cloak woven of shadows and whose revealed flesh was mingled with blood. "What do you want with me; why are you here?"_

_Behind Winry, Sheska's feet slowly drew her towards the back wall, the book in her hand falling with only a light clatter to the ground. Her hands wrapped tight around her petite body, her eyes unwavering as she watched the exchange. But as she pressed herself to the back corner, she shivered as if she were in the arctic. 'This is just like the book I read, the one with the man who comes and steals the woman away, only to lock her in a tower and..' she trembled as she thought. "M-miss Winry, P-p-please watch o-"_

_"That's enough from you," snarled the voice of the intruder, a deep but familiar timbre. The slender fingertips of his blood-stained hand flicked in the direction of the bookworm, a knife swishing across the air as it headed her direction._

_Sheska shrieked, but her legs were frozen solid to the spot in which she stood, making escape impossible. Her fear petrifying her, she could do nothing but wait for the collision of the knife and her heart, considering, 'It's over…am I just the poor victim of a tragic tale…?'_

_The blow didn't come. Seconds before the knife hit, great long cords transmuted from the floor below the young librarian, wrapping themselves around her slender and immobilized body. The knife, in its flight, embedded itself inches from her head in the wall, sending such a shocking relief through the girl's body that her head fell limp against the cords, her eyes closing as she fell into a deep faint._

'_SHESKA!" cried Winry, turning on her heel and moving towards the girl, but only making it a half-step before she was stopped by the hand of the intruder once more._

_"She's not dead. Just unconscious."_

_Winry turned, more anger within her now then fear. Oh, if she had her wrench right now…this guy, or girl, or whoever, would be…so…dead! She wondered if her fists would work, but then again…"You're an alchemist then? Who are you? What do you want with me?"_

_"That's for me to know," came a smirking, sneering voice, as bloody footprints were left in the wake of the approaching man, whose hands reached up to remove the hood of a jacket that fell in the deepest black over his shoulders and back. From beneath this jacket, a thin and spry young body, with short blonde hair and sharp cat-eyes, a deep black costume and an automail arm appeared. "And for you to find out," finished the stranger, a nasty grin slipping across those contemplating features._

_Winry gasped. "Edward!" She took a step forward. "When did you get back…why are you…?" her eyes fell across his bloodied hands, that face covered in scars and scratches, the tarnished automail limb that any other day she would have killed him for._

_"I'm not the Elric boy," snarled the voice, disgust curling his lips into a malicious frown. "Just a serpent, here to sink his fangs…" Lightning etched across the depiction of the Virgin in the two beautiful, rose windows of the room, dove wings all around her. In an instant, it seemed the very image of Mary washed away in the pounding rain outside, the colors bleeding, pooling upon the floor of the tiny back room of the church. In their place, new images appeared: a man in one window with short black hair and gentle eyes, angel wings growing from his back which seemed to be falling to pieces, their feathers covering the ground at his feet. Behind the man, a great green and black dragon's claws seemed to draw closer, closer…The other window had an identical depiction, only it was a blonde-haired woman with sharp icy eyes which gazed down, the dragon's fangs waiting to devour her._

_With those cruel, cold eyes which were not Edward's at all, now that Winry saw them, and which had never left their contact with her eyes through the entire transformation of the room, even as the newly-formed images seemed to explode in the next bout of lightning, the being finished, "…into revenge."_

**To Be Continued**


	5. Chapter V: Kidnapped!

_**"Yowai Yume Ai"  
A fanfiction by Erin Lightning**_

__

**Chapter V**

__

_"Oh…oh God, that's it! That's it, I'm leaving!" Havoc cried, hands tearing at his locks, eyes filled with terror pinned upon the ground and words shakily dripping from his mouth. His shoulders shook and then, like a flash, he was walking purposefully towards the door. "That's it, that's the end, she's not coming!" He laughed like a man crazed, and, striding towards the large, oaken doors with their intricate cross symbols, he growled, "I'll…I'll just go kill myself now! Oh woe is me, goodbye cruel world!"_

_An arm latched itself to his shoulder, and, looking back, the blonde's eyes landed upon the raven-haired Colonel, who, panting, growled, "You are ORDERED NOT to suicide yourself, Lieutenant. Even if she did ditch you, I will not allow you to just go off and do something like that, understood?"_

_"Oh, but, but Colonel, there's no point in living if the life is not for love, and you know this'll be ALL over Central the minute I go back. Then it won't be just Winry who won't have me. No respectable girl will ever date me again. Left at the altar! I'm sentenced to a life of being sad; sad and alone!" Trying to pry his arm free, eyes blurred with tears, Havoc sobbed, "I'd rather die then live without-"_

_Smack! Roy's opposite hand stung his subordinate's cheek, and eyes narrowed menacingly. "You will NOT kill yourself."_

_"B-but…" Havoc's lip quivered. His eyes shot to the clock, which hung like a mirror into the very depths of Hell, and the full moon etched upon its face did nothing to ease his frayed nerves. 10:05. Winry was not only one hour late, she was two. And that could only mean one thing. Havoc shivered, and his head fell, tears snaking down his pale skin in a torrent the likes of which he had never seen before. Roy drew him close, and Havoc's head rested limply against Mustang's shoulder. "Mustang…"_

_"Havoc…"_

_"I…can't do it…I…" Havoc's shoulders shook, and he could feel his heart tearing itself in two, as if a pack of savage wolves had been unleashed within his bloodstream, seeking mercilessly the vital lifeblood within, rending his heart in two. "I thought this time…t-this time would be….d-d-different…"_

_Edward, looking stern, fixed his gaze upon the tile ground beneath the long pew, and felt the cold of the room flooding into him, filling him. He shivered, and his body convulsed without warning. Drawing his hands to clutch up at his arms, he hugged himself tight and turned away from the spectacle. They had enough to deal with already, he had decided. That, and he didn't want their pity; he didn't want Mustang's fear. A trickle of blood slipped past his lips, and he hastily brushed it away. "No, no, not now..." he mumbled, cursing softly under his breath as he coughed hard, doubling over. "I said, not now Greed!" Caught up in his internal struggle, Edward didn't even notice as the minister stepped from behind the altar and walked toward him, Bible in hand._

_"Love is God's gift. It lightens every burden, and passes smoothly over misfortune. It turns bitterness into a sweet fulfillment and spurs us on to great things. It soars to the heights, like the wings of the angels, and it knows no limits. Love aims beyond its strength." And now, turning towards Edward, he said, "Love refuses to admit impossibility."_

_Glancing up to survey this newcomer despite his pain, Ed found that the holy man was a being as simple as his church, with short white hair combed back that was thick at his scalp, but dared not go past his ears. His eyes were the softest green, and he wore the traditional black robes of ceremony. But there was something in that sweet, gentle face, that sparked a hint of sorrow in the young Elric's blood. It reminded him of his father, for it was the same gentle, yet aloof look that had always been fixed on Hohenheim's face whenever Edward saw him. The resemblence unsettled him. He looked away._

_"Sorry…" he rasped, trying to regain himself, "I'm an atheist."_

_"Is that so?" The man asked him, as if he were speaking to Edward, and only Edward. In truth, Ed believed he was, for now it seemed like Havoc and Roy were a world away. And it hurt. It hurt, like a blade being rammed into his chest. The minister was giving him a scornful look; he looked back. Snidely, he thrust: "What?"_

_"Thou shouldn't hold thy companions in terms of Envy."_

_"Envy's a mother-fucking bastard, and he can go to Hell," Edward growled, the reaction immediate to the name, his voice quite sharp in its bitterness. The minister, aghast, drew back and quickly defended himself with the sign of the cross as if he had been physically assaulted. Good. Ed liked to have at least one person kept in fear of his midget wrath. "I'm not like him."_

_Before the holy man could say anything more on the matter, Havoc looked over Roy's shoulder and toward Ed. His eyes, alone, confused, lit upon the boy's shoulder when he could not meet Elric's gaze, and he asked, in the softest intone, "What could have happened to her?"_

_The voice drew Elric back to the moment, and Edward shook his head slumping over slightly, eyes fixing wearily on the ground. A heavy sigh made his chest heave with the effort, and, in turn, caused his grasp on himself to tighten and his teeth to clamp together forcefully. "I…I don't know…"_

_Silenc______e fell upon the inhabitants of the room like a plague, and all th__at was heard__ was the soft rapping of the sky's tears upon the windows and the unsteady breathing of FullMetal as he tried to control this onslaught of pain which had crept upon him and stolen away what little had remained this night of his health. Around them, the room was like a crypt, votives that lit from the ends of the pews waning and the darkness crawling across the ceiling, drawing close to the center of the chamber._

_A silence, like death. And then…_

_"HELP!" screamed a voice from the adjacent room, and it made the men start. Edward leapt from his seat, and Roy and Havoc both drew away from each other, pupils ablaze on the door, Havoc's legs already rushing him toward the noise. Roy's hand reached toward his pocket, but he cursed when he felt no igniter cloth beneath his fingertips. Behind the three, the minister drew his Bible closer to his chest, and raised a silent prayer. Havoc's hand reached for the door, but before he could open it...  
_

_SLAM! The doors burst wide open and a very frightened Sheska burst from the back room only to halt her steps in hesitation as she nearly plowed the groom over. Her eyes blinked in terror as she paused just in time to look up and see the Colonel, fists drawn, and the two subordinates armed, one with a blade and the other with a semi-automatic. Shaking, the girl took a step back, and drew in a deep breath, her eyes wide like a deer's in the headlights, her hands up._

_"Sheska?" Demanded Roy, "What's wrong? Where's Winry!?" His hands dropped as Havoc lowered the pistol, but they were quaking with the fear and the knowledge he could feel drifting up there above his head, waiting to drop down upon him and burn away what little remained of his sanity. Edward, last to relax, lowered his transfigured automail arm, the blade fading from it. _

_Drawing up what little courage the mouse had, she cried, "I-it's Miss Winry! She's been-" But she didn't even get a chance to finish, because Jean Havoc, moving on his impeccable military instinct, had driven himself past the girl, pushing her hurriedly to the side and stampeding into the room behind her. Sheska gave a slight yelp as she found herself landing haphazard on the ground in such an indecent manner, but she took no offense to the push, possibly in too much shock to even realize her displacement. At length, she tried to adjust her glasses, moved to stand, and then hung back from the room, shaken at what she knew he would see. What he did see._

_Havoc's body froze like stone not more then a second after he had stepped over the threshold and into the juxtaposing room._

_"Havoc?" Roy asked, and, casting a look at Ed, who shook his head and his hands as if to say he didn't know either, Mustang made to move after his subordinate._

_"D…d-on't…By Leto's blood…Oh God! Roy, don't come in here…don't…" Havoc's voice was cut deep and jagged with fear, and his face was as pallid as the stars in the night sky, lacking everything but pure, simple panic. This of course triggered the instinct in Edward to run in after him, pushing Roy aside as he did so. He froze and let out a heart-rendering scream, that chilled Roy's blood straight to the bone. Roy's body bolted into the room just behind the younger, but what he found met his eyes with a sudden hit at his own soul before it ever hit his vision and he stopped dead in his tracks, left only to gape at the very same scene that had so spell-bound the other two. _

_Before him was the preparations room, but it looked more like a demonic cult now than a simple church preparations room. In fact, all holiness was gone from the twisted, demonic structures that surrounded the Colonel. The walls and the floor had been washed in crimson red, which clawed its way down the sides of the room and pooled on the floor in great, heaping globs. The windows posed images of grotesque figures, unshapely and inhuman in their design and absolutely ghastly to look upon. Here, candles had been overturned and lay as black soot and there pieces of a fabric lay drenched in the red ooze. The door hung agape on its hinges at the far side of the room, murky black rain spilling upon the red and making it a mixture that looked nothing short of truly repulsive. Even the very Gothic-styled gargoyles which had hung above in the rafters of the room had a vile feel to them now and it seemed that their hideous visages had been marred even more then usual - demonic claws jutting over the wood of the beams, gruesome, sightless eyes pouring over the small gathering. The place reeked of some indescribable terror, and of a filthy stench that tugged lightly at the very edges of the men's senses._

_"What's this?" whispered the minister, who had slunk into the room behind the others and was now hastily and repeatedly crossing himself, while looking at the crimson beneath his feet. Sheska came in at his heels. "Paint?" he asked. "Who would dare deface a holy-"_

_"It's blood," Mustang said, indifferently, his eyes watching the ground as he knelt and laid two fingers in the mixture, lifting them to his face and inspecting them with military precision. Edward, beside him, cried out. Jean sunk to his knees, hands falling into the crimson liquid, clutching at it as if he could draw something from it despite how futile that might be. His head dropped against his chest and a tremor visibly raced across his broad shoulders.  
_

"But there's so much of it!" Edward moaned, horrified.

_"Lord in Heaven…" whispered the minister, drawing back. "Who could have…"_

_Havoc's hand, beneath the bloody sea, ran its fingers across something, and, with his eyes flooded by both hope and uncertainty, he drew up the cloth, only to find that that's all it was: cloth. A piece of a shirt, or something of the like, a small tear of cloth, perhaps a sign? But he couldn't tell what it was! It was soaked red! His fingers wrapped tight around it, dazed. "Winry..." he whispered. Why hadn't he gotten there sooner? Why hadn't he heard any of thise happening? Why hadn't he been there? A sharp pain in his chest let him know that his heart was officially broken. A single, shining tear slid down his cheek.  
_

_"Havoc, what do you have there?" asked Roy and Havoc obediently lifted the thing to his commander's eyes._

_"It's…" Havoc started, his voice quivering, but there was no need for words. Before he could get out the sentence, Edward had snatched the cloth from his hand and clapped two palms against it. The room lit up in flash of lightning, and there…_

_"N-no.." Ed inhaled sharply, his eyes huge, tortured. He held the thing away from him as though diseased, and stumbled backward a few paces.  
_

_"Edward?" Roy moved toward the boy, catching his shoulders in one arm, and taking the cloth from his hands just seconds before the young blonde's shaky hands would have let it fall.  
_

_"Elric, what is it?" started Havoc, seconds before Mustang held the evidence up to his own face: a black headband. With three red circles, connected by three dark lines._

_"It…it can't be…" Taisa whispered, and the fear that lingered in Ed's eyes matched the terror in Roy's soul._

_Envy._

_**--**_

_Slam! The door ricocheted off its hinges, and the midget's form burst from the nightmare into the harsh reality of the cold night air, his legs pumping for all they were worth into the freezing chill. "WINRY! WINRY! WINRY, WHERE ARE YOU?" he screamed with all the might he could muster, voice hindered by coughs. He cast his gaze about, left to right, then right to left. Nothing, nothing but trees that stretched arms like demons out of the darkness and towards him, as if they were reaching for him, reaching out to..._

_"WINRY!" cried Havoc, mere seconds behind Edward and running, running ahead. But Ed couldn't run anymore - he gradually tapered to a stop, gasping for what little air he could get and soaked to the bone. Havoc's shadow passed him by and he heard a third voice join in, Taisa's, and then Sheska's call for Miss Winry, followed by the minister's call, but the boy was no longer a part of it. His eyes were blurring, like someone had just dropped him into a dark, cold, drizzling pool. His head spun, and he gagged on the blood lodged in his throat. "No..." he groaned, clutching at his chest and doubling over with the tension of his injury. The entire world around him began to turn and sway, a twisting top set into motion. He saw red - his eyes faltering...failing...  
_

_"Ed?" Roy paused, not two feet ahead of the teenager, turning his head back just in time to see those amber eyes tilting toward the sky, see the frame wobble. "Ed! Are you okay?! ED!"_

_Ed's mouth opened to speak, but the Colonel's gaze and the voices in the night, the voices of Havoc and Sheska and that damned holy man…they were too much weight on his heart and, with one last grasp at the weakened organ, at the furiously pumping Philosopher's Stone, Ed felt his legs slip out from under him. Down he fell, down, down, careening into the blackness, into the horrors of the night. And the rain fell on._

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	6. Chapter VI: Into The Night

_**"Yowai Yume Ai"  
A fanfiction by Erin Lightning**_

__

**Chapter VI**

__

_The moon hung like a silver dollar and lit above in the night sky, peering down upon the world from a curtain of clouds. In the wind, the old oaks rocked their branches to and fro and the willows swayed to a melody of the sweet chirping of crickets in the darkness and the soft pitter-patter of rainfall. And beneath one of the great willow trees, whose branches shaded both him and his companion like curtains drawn up around a four-poster bed, Taisa lay, his shoulders squared against the gnarled bark. His breathing came in light drawls, his eyes closed against the black eternity which engulfed him, the starless black hole that had become his miserable existance. His shoulders were soaked to the bone and bare, only the white undershirt of the military upon his upper figure._

_His tuxedo jacket lay over a sleeping Elric, whose head rested gently in Mustang's lap and whose tiny frame seemed racked with all the pressure and the weight of the entire world - Icarus, struggling to carry the load of Atlas and, as in all his ventures, failing. From time to time, a soft cough would escape Edward's lips but, for the most part, the youth lay still - a beauty spent. His long locks, like sunlight in this maddening void, fell in his face as wet streaks and his chest heaved with every breath, his heart, or lack thereof, barely a flutter._

_Taisa's hand, chill and cold, stroked Edward's arm, his mind trying to force out the sounds of his other companion, Havoc, who was still traipsing like a ghoul through the wood beyond their little alcove - crying, searching, always coming up empty, but continuing his search vainly regardless. It was impossible to find what was long gone. Futile, even, in Roy's opinion. "Oh Edward," he whispered, "You're not yet gone, FullMetal…come back to me, come back to our world, to this world…I can't do it without you...I can't do..." He choked on the words, but at length, finished: "I can't do anything without you..."  
_

_A cough, and the boy shifted in his arms. Roy's eyes opened only enough to see the movement, his hand hesitating a fraction of a second before continuing to soothe that reckless flame laying beneath his touch, his agile fingertips working their way up to brush the locks from Edward's face, along with…_

_"What's this?" whispered Roy, eyes falling open once more, fully this time, and staring down upon Edward like sweetened shadows. The softest, saddest smile played upon Mustang's mug. "Are you crying, Edward?"_

_The body in his arms, uncomfortable, sought to roll aside. When Mustang held him back, Ed started awake and tried to sit up without even giving himself time to recognize his consciousness. His teeth bared in pain. Aching, he gave a grunt of displeasure as some minor nerve or bone snapped in him and forced him to lay back down with Roy's aid, and his gentle, hushed words of kindness. Elric blinked, groggy, and finally managed to focus on Mustang.  
_

_"Taisa! What are you doing? Hell, I knew you were low, but…" Ed blathered, but Roy's hand which camw to rest lovingly on the boy's heart forced Edward's voice to catch in his throat. For a long time, an excruciatingly long time, he could only watch the eyes of his savior - watch them close, watch Roy's mind open like a steel trap unhinged, the feelings reflecting back on the Colonel's face as he held Ed. Deep breath in, deep breath out._

_"I was worried about you, Ed," Taisa whispered, and his head dropped low before Edward had even caught the movement, cheek now resting against Ed's shoulder as the boy lay in his Colonel's lap. The lingering hand stroked FullMetal's locks, brushing the water droplets free to fall away in the rain. "I was…so worried…" His eyes turned upon Ed's, and the younger realized Roy spoke no lie: this fear was entirely evident in Taisa's eyes.  
_

_Edward blinked. He couldn't remember the last time his superior had stared down at him with such emotion. He knew Roy cared, but...he looked away. "Mustang…"_

_A drop splashed against Ed's cheek; a droplet of rain he thought but, no, it was a disguised tear of the Colonel, who was crying, but only softly. Ed would never notice. "I thought I'd lost you, Ed, when you collapsed just then…I thought you had joined Hawkeye, and left me alone again…"_

_"Taisa, you baka," whispered Edo. His own hands reached up, embracing the haughty shoulders of the other, his eyes searching out Mustang's and succeeding in catching his gaze. He held it for what seemed like an eternity, a look of confusion along his cheeks. Why did the Colonel care so much? And why...why was he being so open about it now? This wasn't the man he remembered. Taisa had been...humbled, it seemed. And it unnerved the younger of the two, though he replied regardless, "You know I would never leave you. I can't just die like that."_

_Roy's lip quivered and in that second he could feel the young boy's breath on his nape, could feel the soft beating of their hearts in unison, could feel the heat generating off of the subtle body of his companion, his friend, his…lover. In pure bewilderment, Ed stared back, but Roy knew the boy wanted it as much as he did. He leaned in for the kill…and Edward prepared to accept, when suddenly...  
_

_"Dammit!" snarled Havoc, slipping past the curtain-like leaves, and withdrawing a cigarette from his suit pocket, which he shoved in his mouth. He searched for a lighter, couldn't find one, and sighed. It was raining anyway. The man's cold blue eyes turned upon the sky and he growled, crunching the wet tobacco in a grimace, "That bastard flew the coop. It's official. He's not here, he's not in the forest, he's not in the church…He's gone...Winry's gone..." He looked over towards Ed and Roy. Pause. His eyebrow raised. "Uhm, Roy, don't mind me being nosy and asking, but what are you…?"_

_Edward and Roy quickly unlocked themselves from each other's grip and, sliding away from one another, both muttered simultaneously, "Nothing!" The quick movement jarred Ed into another coughing fit, which brought Roy back over to steady him immediately.  
_

_"Yeah, yeah, nothing my ass," Havoc mumbled, but didn't argue. He was in no mood to argue and, sitting on his haunches on the ground before the other two men, he sighed heavily. "So?" He asked, eyes flashing to Roy, then to Ed, then closing. His words were bitter and sharp, biting. "What do we do now?"_

_Roy's head dropped, and his voice was barely audible. "I…don't know…"_

_"Well, think of something!" growled Havoc, and he turned away from them, one fist clenched, slamming it against the ground. The other hand moved to massage his temples. "I'm not the mastermind here, bosses. You are. We can't just sit here and do nothing! He could be..." The words trailed off. Ed looked and he was pretty sure he saw tears welling in the other man's eyes as well. He'd never seen Havoc in such a state as he was now, all frustrated and frightened like a lost child._

_"We…we know who did it…" Ed muttered and, reaching into his coat pocket, he withdrew the homunculus' headband with shaky hands, holding it up._

_Roy shook his head. "Ed, it can't be him. It can't be. He's dead. Dead and gone. Your father would have seen to that, I assure you."_

_"Well he didn't kill him completely enough," Ed said, and looked down at the headband, as if some intricate detail might lay there, some small thing that he had missed. There had to be a point; there had to be a clue! And the room back there, it all seemed so like his homunculus half-brother. It seemed so vile, so monstrous, such a dastardly thing to do. So devilish. Now, if only…_

_Edward looked up at Roy resolutely. "I know it's him, Mustang. I just know it. We're practically flesh and blood. I know. Please," and a pleading tone slipped into his voice at the same time as a horrible cough wracked him and left him lying in Taisa's arms once more, spent, head turned to the side, blood falling from his fragile lips. "You have to believe me…"_

_Roy stated, "I believe you, Ed," though it didn't look like he did. Or maybe it just was that he didn't want to, and Ed could understand that. He could understand better then anyone else. If you got in the serpent homunculus' way, you were dead. Riza Hawkeye had learned that the hard way. Maes Hughes had learned it the hard way. Now, was Winry, the potential wife to one of the only two friends Mustang had left, third on the list? Worse yet, Ed knew that the circumstances of all these deaths would haunt Mustang, perhaps even more so than the memories of Ishvar, for these memories Mustang had caused to people that he knew - they were always there, if one dared to look farther then skin-deep, and they were always painful. Elric was finally beginning to sympathize with the Taisa. But not for long._

_"So, Ed, suppose he did do it…how are we going to find him?"_

_"Well," muttered Ed, "He must want her for something, right?" He sat pondering for the duration of a few minutes, before he realized they were not alone any longer. Turning his head as he noticed her, Ed bid a nod of welcome to the young ex-librarian, Sheska, as she ducked under the branches of the tree and moved into the huddle. Her face, however, was grave. She didn't look like she was in the mood to speak. He blinked. "Something up?"_

_The girl, shaking, reached out her hands, which had been hidden behind her back and offered up a telephone, one of the old-fashioned black models that ran, thank god, on gas and flame rather then electricity. It had one of the old circle-dials, and the receiver was ancient-looking. The fear in Sheska's pale, doe eyes made Edward quake inside, but he forced himself to sit up. "Who is it?"_

_"It's…him…"_

_**--**_

_"W-what do y-you want? Why were you here? Where's Win-"_

_"Jesus, Pip-squeak, what kind of hello is that?" Envy asked, twirling the phone in one hand as he sat quite haughtily upon one of the extra-plush cushions he had scattered about his room, his eyes so alight that they seemed crimson. He wore a coat of the shadows that gathered in the room and a smirk that seemed to suggest foul play. It was quite clear from his smug expression that the androgynous homunculus was greatly enjoying this game - he was reveling in the fear and commotion wrought by his own hand, so much so that his fingers drummed lightly on the desk, and he hummed softly to himself between Edward's poor attempts at formulating sentences.  
_

_"Where's Winry!"_

_"Jeez, I don't know. What a pity."_

_"Don't fuck with me!" snarled Edward in hysterics, falling into one of his coughing fits and only just managing to scream, "Don't you dare try and fuck with me, you bastard!"_

_Laughter. Horrible, maniacal laughter. Envy was more then just enjoying himself. He was having the time of his life. "Why can't I, Edo? It's not like you can do anything about it..." More laughter, and then, finally: "She's right here, midget. Stop getting yourself so worked up - I haven't done anything to her...yet. As for what I want…well, here's an idea, why don't you just come and see for yourself?"_

_Hesitation on the other end of the line. Envy smirked to himself. Oh yeah, he had FullMetal's curiosity piqued now. And the midget was probably trying not to snap a witty comeback - he knew Envy would just hang up. After all, the little bastard was persistant. He would find Envy on his own eventually. But the sin didn't want to wait for "eventually" to tell the truth. At length - "Where are you?"_

_"Oh, it's a little place you well know, I assure you. Are you familiar with Dublith?"_

_"Bastard!" Ed hissed, and it brought a chuckle from Envy. Yes, he realized Edward had just returned from the place, but, ah, what a perfect meeting spot it could be._

_"Well, if you don't want her back-"  
_

_"I'll come."_

_"Haha, very well, shrimp. I'll be seeing you around then," Envy mocked with a gentleman's voice, pausing as he spoke and quickly adding, "Oh, and give my fondest regards to your Taisa. Ask him how life has been at his empty office."_

_Envy didn't wait for a reply. He clicked the phone back down on its stand, turned to the room beyond, and gave a pleased grin as his gaze fell upon what he was searching for. Slinking from the table into the darkness, he moved like a panther to where Winry Rockbell lay, her delicate arms spread upon the bed, her chest rising and falling rhythmically, as blood dripped from several random wounds on her arms, her neck, her breast, her legs. Cupping her unconscious face in his hands, Envy sneered._

_"Don't worry…your little prince on his white horse will come for you…but I think he'll be surprised when he gets here." A chuckle. A cruel, evil, uncaring chuckle, and then he thrust her face away from himself and vanished back into the shadows.  
_

_**--**_

_"DAMMIT!" Ed slammed the phone back down onto the receiver and his blazing eyes looked at the others, hesitant to speak the news. He knew what Envy was doing, oh, of course he knew. There had to be some kind of ulterior motive; there had to be some game to this. And Ed was about to become an unwilling pawn. He made as if to stand. Well, at least if he left now, he wouldn't be dragging the other two into his fight. He faltered as he stood, wobbling on unsteady legs, but when Roy's hand reached out to steady him, he shook it away.  
_

_"Ed-" Roy started._

_"She's in Dublith," Ed muttered, indifferently._

_"Is it him?"_

_Ed didn't answer. His hand, still shivering, reached for the long, billowing branches of the willow to part them. Beyond, the night rang with its tempest fury. Edward shook his head. He had to go. And he had to do it now. But wait...something stirred just beyond his range of vision. A black shadow. What was that there beyond enclosure?  
_

_"Ed, where are you-?" Roy started to follow him, but was cut off by the sight of Edward's body freezing stone cold in contemplation of something, something there beyond the willows. Roy's hand once more reached for his pocket to find his gloves, but he cursed when he realized, for the second time that night, that they were missing from his formal wear. He made a mental note to never leave home without them again. "What is-"_

_SHOOM! The willow leaves were swept apart by two long, black claws that seemed as if to extend from the very burning sky itself. The leaves parted to reveal the body of a slender, feminine figure emerging from the raging thunder, her body sweeping over the waves of grass like a specter. Flowing over her ashen shoulders was a mane of silky midnight hair and her form was obscured by only a thin, delicate dress made of the same obsidian black. She approached in a calm manner, as if she were the guest of honor at some fancy gala, instead of an intruder to the world of the three men and Sheska, who cowered behind them. Just as the claws had preceded the body, they drew back sharply as she reached the tree and stopped, her place only several inches from our young, blond protagonist._

_"Lust…" Ed growled, defiant golden eyes blazing upon the sin's and behind him Mustang started and Havoc, who had once known this woman closely, stood with fists clenched and ready to brawl, his automail hand reaching for the gun that he kept on himself at all times for just such an occasion._

_"Good evening, Edward Elric."_

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	7. Chapter VII: A Pact With The Devil

_**"Yowai Yume Ai"  
A fanfiction by Erin Lightning**_

_**

* * *

**_

**Chapter VII**

**

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_"What do you want?" raged Ed, his voice a quiver with the malice that seethed in his words, a poison that erased all sympathy from his mind. His fists were balled, his feet steadying him only by some great gift of God for, even now as he faced her, Edward could feel the heavy weight closing in on him, bearing down its sharp and inhuman jaws as if to swallow him back into the darkness. It hurt! It hurt - this damnable, detestable stone that burned from within the very breast of the young man, a blazing fount of immortality...and yet...He shivered, threatening to collapse again, but drew upon his courage and his incorrigible will to aid him in this time of peril. He willed his body to be a paragon of the great warrior statues so worshiped in Lior and the other religious outposts which lay scattered across the expanse of what was Amestris. Lust was a predator. He too well knew this, and knew what predators would do to those who showed weakness.  
_

"_Come now, I've done nothing whatsoever to cause you harm this night, have I?" Lust purred, her voice sweet, lascivious in nature. Her slender, feminine arm reached forward and her fingers again became long, blackened claws which stretched the gulf between the two and brushed flirtingly against the young blonde's cheek. Her eyes narrowed as Mustang and Havoc, behind the alchemist, stood as if to quarrel with her, but her voice remained sultry. "How is it you would welcome me so harshly, when I've only come to bring you good news?" _

"_What," repeated Edward, teeth clenching and body fighting to remain unmoving as the passionate, hateful flare arose in his heart and her touch threatened to knock him over the edge, "do you want?" His hand cruelly batted her claws away._

"_I want Envy." _

"_What?" Edward asked, a tremulous wave washing over his body as he drew back sharply, eyes blinking with surprise and suspiscion. Weren't the homunculi all one joined union, or at least that was how it had been last time Edward had bothered to check on anything concerning them. Well, all accept for that black demon who had once been Greed, but he was long dead now and long gone. Or so they thought. "Y-y-you're tricking me…" he muttered, and then - "How come you came to me, then? Why not just go to him yourself?"  
_

"_You heard me, FullMetal, I want the skin of that young bastard who dared to defy our father for the last time. Pompous, insolent, rude - he had it all coming to him and finally it's crashing down on his head. I know of the plan he's hatched," and she let her eyes drift over the other two men as she looked back, back beyond them past the trees and the pouring haze of the storm. "I know," she whispered, and by now she was at the boy's side, so close that her shoulder brushed against his in a way that Elric could be sure was planned for, was meant to fire him up. And it did. "Of his sin." She paused, and flicked her hair over her shoulder with one claw. Surprisingly, she showed no signs of having been caught in the storm - her body was dry and soft. Too soft. Edward tried to pull back, but couldn't. She frowned at his attempt. "I came to you," she said, humbly, "Because I cannot defeat him on my own...I'm only one homunculus, you know, love?"  
_

_Havoc, having decided he had had enough of this talk and snarling with rage, leapt forward, eyes beaming with a sore, darkened pain and anger so full, so encompassing that the very air around him seemed to burned with this flame. His golden hair, which had been so precariously combed back for the ceremony, even though it had given him a formality all his own, was now a tattered mess, soaked and dulled. His right hand, a fist and arm all of automail that was nearly impossible to notice to the unkeen eye, clutched a gun trained directly on her head and it looked as if he might really dive at Lust. "What have you done to her? What have you done to Winry, you bitch! I'll kill you!" He made as if to pull the tigger, but Roy's hand reached up and pointed it downward. Somewhere behind the pair, Sheska drew a deep, gasping breath. _

"_Relax, Jean," Lust uttered, looking perturbed. She made careful use of his first name, sparking that old memory of the intimacy which they had once shared as boyfriend and girlfriend, and it infuriated him all the more. "I have no wish to be a part of Envy's ridiculous goals, and the FullMetal boy can vouch for that," she said, her voice like silk and nearly drowned by the rain. "The fool. We're so close to humanity and he only wishes to hinder us by provoking the alchemist who Father would have on our side." _

"_The alchemist?" questioned Ed, curiosity lingering in his voice. His brow hardened. "What does my father have to do with this?"  
_

"_Don't do it FullMetal…" Mustang whispered under his breath. There was no way to know whether Ed heard or not. "She'll reel you in…she'll make you a part of what you would have nothing in. She's one of them…not a human, not near a human. A trickster. She's Loki's own mistress." _

"_That's right," said Lust, and her claws drew back from Edward's face, becoming fingers once more as they massaged his shoulders. "You're the alchemist, my lovely," Her chest pressed tight to his, seducing him as only a mistress of the very dark art for which she was named could. "And with you at my side, I'll surely destroy that damnable creature who thinks so highly of himself." _

_Edward's breath escaped him in a soft gasp under the gentle provoking of her fingertips, a moan stifling itself in his throat, which, by the time the sound reached his own ears, had brought about a tight, fearful panic in him. His stomach knotted with queasiness. There was a flash, and his right limb was a blade, slashing at Lust, striking straight across her stomach in a wound which forced a hiss from her akin to that of a feral cat's. "G-get away from me!" he growled. "I don't want…" There was hesitation there and Roy caught it in Ed's eye, clear as day. To have the power of one of the enemies on his side, Ed was wondering, or to go it alone and know the road behind was safe, but the way before lined with daggers? _

_Lust made the decision for him. "Naïve little boy," she chided with a hissing voice, as her body moved behind him before he could turn on her again. Slipping her arms about Edward's shoulders, she laced her fingers, pressing them lightly against his chest, at the place where the stone occupied. Her lips, pressed near to his ear, whispered the humbled words, "I need your help, and I cannot defeat the monster among my kind without it. Be a…" Her tongue slipped from her rosen lips and caressed the boy's ear so enticingly that a shiver ran down his spine and he melted in her arms. "Be a hero of the people for me, my love…" _

"_I…" Ed whispered, but his eyes were clouded, confused, unknowing. A long silence ensued, and the rain fell ever quiet, ever soft in a world that was miles from them now, miles from the little gathering where Edward stood in the grip of a cardinal monster, and the other three, his trusted companions and a woman who had once been his aide in the time of need, stood still - watching, waiting for his decision as samurai stand before their Lord for an order. Elric's eyes closed to the night, his own weakness buckling his spirit under the taunting affection being lavished upon him by Lust's fingers, her words, her body._

He reasoned: It was not uncommon for the homunculi to change sides when it pleased them. And Lust had said something about being human...and his father...creating a human homunculus would require a perfect philosopher's stone. Ed needed one of these. He also needed about a zillion aspirin and a super-power capable of vaporizing homunculi-kidnappers in half a second, but the latter were not items he was going to be able to obtain at the moment, like it or not. And anyway, should something go wrong with Lust's aide, well...he could deal with that when the time came. He wasn't a little boy any longer, after all.

_The young alchemist's hand dropped, the blade slipping away and returning to a normal limb. His eyes dropped to the ground, ashamed, but resigned to his fate. His words, when they were finally emitted from a mouth that seemed wholly bitter, made Lust's soft, playful smile turn into a cruel, heartless grin. "I'll do it…" _

"_What did you say?" whispered Lust into his ear. "Say it louder, so that the others will hear." _

"_I'll do it," Edward muttered._

_"Ed, no!" snarled Roy, and his sharp movement forward, the hand which snatched Ed's collar and thrust the young blonde from Lust's grasp was enough to jar Edward back to the current moment. He looked none too happy about being dragged from what had been such an alluring fantasy. "Snap...snap out of it, FullMetal!" Roy's voice was menacingly low, both fists curling against the boy's neck as they held tight to him, eyes wide and panicked and pleading and so, so angered._

_But Ed knew what anger was, and he knew how to return it. Eyes narrowing absolutely dangerously, Ed's teeth bared and his voice seethed poison again, this time at the man dearest to him. "I made my decision, Colonel. She wants to kill Envy, and I need all the allies I can get. So what if she's a homunculus? I can handle myself." He cast an eye back over his shoulder to where Lust watched the two men square off, her face the picture of angelic innocence, as if she hadn't been a part of all this to begin with, let alone the instigator of such a face-off._

_Roy's voice became menacing - a pure, clear, concise threat. "I swear, Edward, if you-"_

_"You've called my decisions bad before, but look at me, I'm still alive! That's more then I can say about your sub-" Pause._

_A look of ghostly horror snaked it's way across Roy's face and his hand, knuckle white, relinquished its grip on the younger alchemist, only for the terrifying feeling to settle down on Flame like a bell coming down over a candle to extinguish it. His face was pale, and...his eyes glistened. What damage had those words just wrought? Ed couldn't tell, but he saw Roy's teeth grit, grinding together in contemplation. He pushed Edward aside, stepped past him, and finally, pride injured, "Fine...do...do what you want, Ed. I...I'm not going. You want to go on a wild goose chase with a she-witch? You're doing it alone. And I don't care if that damned stone swallows you up!"_

_"Taisa?" Havoc gasped, looking bewildered as his eyes cast about from the blonde, to the wounded Flame Alchemist, and then to the smug bitch. Trying to soothe himself, Havoc clenched and unclenched his automail fist, watching it with little interest. He peeked over his hand to look at Roy. "C'mon Mustang, you're not just gonna let the kid go off on his own are you?"_

_But before Mustang could answer, Edward had spun about, and was looking at Lust, regarding her thoughtfully, as a young man might regard a woman he was interested in, though it was obvious Ed had no means to do anything adult with the homunculus. He harbored no feelings for her. "I wasn't going to ask you," he growled back at Roy. And then, unable to resist a final stab, trying to mask the single tear that came to his eye at such a hard rebuke from the other man, "I don't want you to have anything to do with this Mustang. Just go back to Central and forget about it. You can do that can't you? After all, you might be the Flame Alchemist, but you've got a heart of ice, isn't that right? And you," to Lust now, "are you ready to g______o?" Lust nodded, and Ed returned the gesture, before reachi__ng out an aching, arthritic hand for the willow branches._

_"Oh, Ed, don't-" Havoc tried to speak, but, looking frantically back and forth between the Major and the Taisa, he realized that both were resolved, and that nothing he could do was going to change either of their stubborn, pig-headed minds. Useless, he could only bow his head as Sheska, nearby, and Mustang as well watched Ed lift up the great willow leaves and disappear into the rain, limping off with Lust following a short way behind him. Like a young slave, Ed looked - some devil's toy. And Lust was this devil. How quizzical it seemed, and how amusing it would have been, had this been happening to anyone else._

_Roy turned away from the sad, sad sight, unable to watch something that caused him so much pain and grief. He knew Havoc wanted to follow. He knew he had to find Winry. But Roy...If Havoc left, Mustang would have no one, and some part of him selfishly clung to the urge to demand Havoc remain behind. It was all so wrong, after all. This morning, he had thought that he and Edward finally had been given a chance at normal life again. Now, it was wrong - everything was fucked up. Ed was dying, Winry was kidnapped, and the homunculi...He winced when Havoc looked over at him, and stated, in the plainest words, "You're seriously just going to let him leave?"_

_Roy bitterly replied, "That's what he wants, so let him have it..." But his eyes were cold; he was thinking, contemplating...Could he really let Elric go like this? Let him go off to the slaughterhouse?  
_

_"In that case...Ed, wait!" Havoc called out suddenly, his legs bursting a few feet forward, arms waving, just before the boy could get beyond the horizon. In the rain Jean stood, panting, only a yard or so from the young prodigy, and safely out of hearing range of Mustang and the young Sheska. When Elric paused for the merest second and cast a dismal stare in Havoc's direction, the Lieutenant quickly muttered, "I'm going too. She's my bride. I can't just wait here to see whether she comes back or not. I love her." His eyes hardened with determination._

_Edward nodded his head, slowly, as if he were actually considering leaving Havoc behind. He turned around. "All right, but let's get go-" But before he could finish the sentence, Edward found himself on the ground, an unseen enemy pinning him, face first, into the cold, drenched dirt, and a stinging pain ringing through his head that caused his eyes to water, losing their focus entirely. 'Lust!' was all he could think; had she betrayed him already? Oh, what a fool he was!_

**To Be Continued**


	8. Chapter VIII: Love

_**"Yowai Yume Ai"  
A fanfiction by Erin Lightning**_

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**Chapter VIII**

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_But it was not Lust who had betrayed Edward._

Once Ed had cleared the willow trees and Havoc had followed in his footsteps, Roy turned and, anguished, slammed his fist roughly against the tree itself. His knuckle ruptured, a thin trace of red blood dribbling down from the torn flesh. He said nothing, but from the way his shoulders shook, any onlooker could have gaged the tremendous weight that decision had placed on him. He held back the tears through a clenched jaw. 'Maes...Riza...' he thought, solemnly, 'I wasn't there to stop you either...'

"Young man, you seem troubled." At the minister's voice, Roy glanced up. His eyes, tormented beyond what words could express, caught on the man as he pushed through the willow branches and made his way toward Roy from the opposite direction through which Ed had left. "What is the matter?"

Roy looked away. He didn't say anything. Rather, he couldn't find the words to say anything. He tried to put back together the mask that usually shielded his emotions from other's views, but couldn't seem to work a stoic face right now. Nevertheless, despite his lack of clarity, the minister whistled softly, and said, "Love, is it? Companionship, at least."

Again, Roy did not respond. He didn't need to. But he looked at the other man, expecting something...more. Decisive.

"Love is not always what we expect," the man said, softly. "But I can tell you what love is." He opened his Bible, and Roy rolled his eyes - a sermon, just what he needed. But, to his surprise, the words the man spoke were not what he had thought they would be - "Love keeps no record of wrongdoing. It does not delight in evil, but rejoices in truth. It always protects, trusts, hopes, and preserves. There is nothing love cannot face. There is no limit to it's faith, hope, and endurance. In a word, there are three things that last forever, and only three: Faith, Hope, and Love. But the greatest of them all is love."

He closed the Bible. Roy stared at him blankly for what seemed like forever, enlightened, gaping. The man concluded, "Love is the power to protect, because it is the strongest thing there is. It does not live in words, though, but in actions, and in truth. Your friend - he is risking his life to save that young woman, is he not? He does not have to, yet it is what he has sworn to do. Because of love-"

"Because of love, all my friends are dead." Roy said, his voice meek. "Because of love, they sacrificed themselves..."

The minister stepped back, aghast. He crossed himself. "I am sorry. I truly am."

"No," Roy said, his voice oddly distant. "That's alright." He paused, and let the realization sweep over him. 'Love is the power to protect.' Because of love, his friends had protected him - Riza from Envy, and Maes from Roy learning the secret of the militia and putting himself directly in harm's way. It was their sacrifices that had saved his life. And when he had failed at human transmutation, Edward had been the one who had stepped in front of that blast, arms open to receive Roy's punishment, even though the boy knew full-well what might happen to him as a result. A thought dawned on Roy. 'They gave up so much...they gave their lives to keep me from doing something stupid...while I just let them walk into disaster...' This was followed by another thought: 'Now it's happening again.'

Before his mind had caught up with his body, Roy found himself tossing the leaves aside and sprinting after Edward and the others. His eyes hardened. He knew what he had to do. He drew back a fist, the minister's warning shouts completely drowned out behind him in the roar of the storm. He shut his eyes and saw the faces of all those he had left behind over the years. The tear that had been waiting in his eye escaped down his cheek. He pulled his fist back.

'Now,' he thought, 'It's my turn.'

**To Be Continued**


	9. Chapter IX: The Goodbye

_**"Yowai Yume Ai"  
A fanfiction by Erin Lightning**_

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**Chapter IX  
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_As the boy scraped at the ground with his metallic palm, fingers digging deep into the moist earth to hurl a clump of dirt right into the face of his attacker, he looked up straight into the eyes of someone he knew all too well. Drenched in the black mud, eyes the same color glared back at Elric and the hair ______upon further inspection__, though mussed and clotted with dirt, was an obsidian midnight mop._

_"Mustang!" gasped Ed, struggling beneath the figure of the other. "What are you-?"_

_"You can't do this, Ed! Do you think I'm just going to sit back and watch you die? Think again! This is suicide! You'll never survive the night, let alone find that girl and get her back, not with that, that…that thing leading you! You're just running off to your death and I-…" Roy's eyes sparkled with tears, but they were tears of fury, and his hand clutched tight the Elric boy's shirt, one leg on either side of Edward's hips to stay the boy where he lay as Edward struggled valiantly to free himself from Taisa's grasp. "I won't let you just run off again…you're so damned foolish! How are you supposed to trust a homunculus? Dammit, Ed, listen to me! I am your superior!"_

_Edward's hand reached up, the same one that had chucked the mud into Mustang's eyes and it hesitated. Metallic knuckles brushed lightly away the earth from Roy's face, and he whispered, so quietly, "Mustang…I…I'm sorry." He sighed. "Y-you're so selfish…" He winced as a single tear lolled down Roy's face and fell onto Ed's cheek, forcing an amiable look from the younger. "But, Roy, it's the only thing I can do. I mean, how else am I supposed to find Winry?" 'And myself,' he thought. "Maybe if I work with Lust, and you know damned well I don't want to, then I'll have a chance to-"_

_SLAM! Edward's cheek was on fire with pain, the embers pulsing through his entire being and forcing him to jump suddenly. This time, the strength in the boy's body from the hit outdid Roy's strength, and Mustang flew off of Ed, landing on his knees and looking quite angered. "What the hell was that for?" demanded Ed. "You hit me again!"_

_"If you're not going to listen to reason, I'll just have to beat you down until you're either unconscious or until you wake up and realize where you're headed!" Time had proven that violence was the only thing Edward would listen to anyway, at least so it seemed to Mustang. Roy was on his feet, and Ed was right behind him, though staggering as he did so. "I'm not afraid to fight you, Ed!"_

_"I've always wanted to crush in your pompous mug, Mustang. This is how it has to be?"_

_Roy's teeth grit. "This is how it was meant to be!" He dove forward, feigning a kick and then hitting with a right uppercut to Edward's face. Ed, prepared for such a trick, brought up his metallic arm and transmuted it into a blade, knocking away the attack. Roy twisted where he stood and leapt behind Ed, actually trying to kick the boy this time. Ed wasn't quite so ready for this shot; he felt the sting of the hit on his right side, crushing his ribs and throwing him to the ground._

_"Ugh…that was a cheap trick, Mustang!" Ed growled, trying to stand and having difficulty. Mustang leapt in for the finisher._

_"Taisa! That's enough! Haven't you realized the kid's injured? If you keep this up, you're gonna kill him!" Havoc, arms wrapped tight around Roy's shoulders from behind, restraining him, sounded more serious then he had ever been before. His brows were knit in scorn and it appeared, from the snarl he wore that he was having difficulty with his charge._

_"I'm not gonna let him just-"_

_"Havoc, l-let him g-go…" Ed whispered, his body painfully, slowly, making its way to his feet. Havoc turned his head…and the world froze. Elric's eyes were the deepest golden, and so sympathetic that Jean's heart felt it would freeze within him. His lips were curled in a smile that was just as warm and comforting, but they were lips tainted with blood. He was choking on his own blood, Havoc would swear! His arms, clutching at his condemned side, slowly opened up as he stood. "L-l-let him go…" Ed repeated. _

_Somehow, Havoc couldn't argue._

_The man's arms released Roy, and Mustang stumbled forward, unsure, blinking. "E-Ed," his voice faltered, "I d-don't want to hurt you. Ed, I demand it…on your superior officer's order, I demand that you cease this foolishness! Why…why don't you just stop fighting? Why don't you ever listen?"_

_"Because, Mustang, unlike you…I can't give up. Alphonse, Winry, Havoc, Sensei, even that old bat Pinako and those Tringham brothers…I have people who count on me to do what I have to do…I can't ever give up, for their sake." Edward coughed, a spat of blood falling from his lips, eyes forcing themselves to remain open. "Even if my friends are gone," he started, and told himself to close out the memories in his mind: Riza, Fury, Breda, Falman, Hughes, Nina…mother…"I still have their memories and I have to fight for that. So if you're really intent on stopping me…" Edward's hand flexed forward, a definite "bring-it" gesture. "Then you're going to have to finish me off; kill me right here."_

_"I can't kill you Ed, but I can't give you leave to go, either."_

_"You can't have everything, Roy. It's one or the other. Kill me, or I'll leave. Permission or no."_

_"That's what you want, Ed?"_

_"That's what I want, Roy."_

_"Then…I have no choice!" Mustang's body catapulted itself forward, but it was evident that he would not be the victor of this battle. Tears blurred his vision, and his hands moved with a deftness that was foreign to him, every blow missing or being knocked helplessly aside._

'_All this time…All the time I thought I was protecting everyone, when really I was just hindering them,' thought Roy. 'I was never there when they needed me the most, but what is there that I could have done in the first place? If I had been at his side when Hughes took on that horrible bastard serpent, would I have been able to stop his shooting? If I had been there when that same creature took a stab at beautiful Hawkeye, would I have been able to make him cease his horrible actions? And now he's going to get a crack at Ed, and I can't…I just can't….I can't let him go!'_

_Roy was ripped from his thoughts as a metallic fist bashed directly into his face, followed in short succession by a pummeling stream of electricity that knocked him backwards off of his feet. The second Mustang hit the ground, another flash of alchemy was the only warning before the mud beneath him, rising up as strong as steel, locked tight around his wrists and his ankles like cuffs, pinning him. He struggled, but to no avail. It was over. Bloodied, muddied, his furious gaze fought to see beyond the earth that had splattered all over his face, fought to see Ed, and he cried, just once more, "Ed, you can't!"_

_"It's over, Roy."_

_"No! Ed!"_

_"I'm leaving," the boy said and he too was a wreck. His face was bruised, his body bleeding and sagging at once, mud clinging to his blonde hair and his once bright clothes, a horrible cough emitted from his cracked lips. Somewhere beyond the shelter of the great tree that still hung in the background, a hapless shadow now, the lightning struck again, and thunder pierced the sky. Ed nearly fell, but Havoc stepped forward and placed one hand under each of Elric's arms, lifting him. Ed muttered a thank you, and then took one last look about him: Lust, standing behind him, waiting; Sheska and the priest, standing at the edge of the shelter, watching the entire happening with a mixed curiosity and fright; and Roy… Edward scoffed, turned, and looked back over his shoulder._

_"Goodbye, Mustang. I doubt we'll ever see each other again. But, then again, if we do…" he shrugged. His voice, in the last, had grown very quiet, and sorrow was deeply etched in it. How it pained him, to have to do this to the man he loved…how it hurt to leave, and Roy was making it no easier. He knew Taisa could not come with him. He knew Roy didn't want to watch him die. But leaving here hurt so much too.  
_

_"Ed…" whispered Mustang, struggling again, wishing he could find someway to make Edward stay. Wishing, begging, pleading. "Ed, please…Ed, I…I need you…" And he threw his head to the side, trying to bury it in the dirt, such an anguished cry wrenching from his lips that it froze the blood of all in attendance to hear it. And it turned Elric, who had already gained quite a bit of ground and who had meant to leave as his goodbye._

_Just as resolvedly as he had turned togo, Edward walked back, dropped to the ground and though it pained him, turned Roy's face up towards him, and locked the older man in a passionate kiss. His metal fist dropped downward, clutching Mustang's imprisoned hand, and here he held Roy for the longest time, for there was no chance in Hell Mustang was going to reject him now. What Ed didn't notice was that, behind him, everyone else in the nearby area was giving him the most outlandish of looks…whatever. He didn't give a damn what they thought either. Let him have this goodbye; he couldn't leave without it, without hearing those words one last time that Roy was bound to say..._

_The priest, under his breath, whispered, "Dear God, what's gotten into the young men these days…" And made the sign of the cross. Again._

_It didn't matter. Releasing Roy from the kiss, Edward looked into his eyes once more, and wasn't surprised to find those shining tears, that beautiful sadness with which Roy always regarded him. "Ed, I…I love you…"_

"I know, Roy. But I have to go."

"I don't understand."

"And I can't explain it to you. But, Mustang, it's my turn to be brave."

Roy looked away, his voice gentle as he whispered, "You've always been brave."

_Edward didn't reply for some time, and, when he finally did, he whispered, "I'm going. I hope...I hope you'll be happy, Roy. I'll never forget you." He drew one last look of the flame alchemist, and felt a sudden stab at his heart as the realization came over him: this was exactly as he had found Taisa two and a half years before. Chained, bound, bloodied, and broken. And this was how he would leave him. Biting his lip as he turned away for the last time, he nodded to Lust and Havoc and started for the edge of the horizon. Only a few paces away, he coughed hard again, and made as if to fall, but Havoc's secure grip returned, steadied him, and without a further word, without even a sound, the trio disappeared into the freezing night._

_Taisa watched them depart, sobbing softly, unable to believe that this nightmare before his eyes was truly happening. Once they were gone from his view, there was only one thing that Roy could do. Struggling futilely against his bonds, he let loose a scream ten thousand times more violent and horrible than his last, a scream to pierce Heaven and Hell, and make the Earth between quake with terror. "EDWARD!" The lightning cracked again, the thunder roared, and Roy's scream, sorrowed, heartbroken, without a hope, echoed, echoed…into the pitch dark night._

**To Be Continued**


	10. Chapter X: The Train and The Truce

_**"Yowai Yume Ai"  
A fanfiction by Erin Lightning**_

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**Chapter X**

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Lust was buying the train tickets. Ed, braced against Havoc and half asleep by now, watched as the young man, with difficulty because of the human form resting against his shoulder, shrugged out of his expensive tuxedo jacket, which by now was so muddy it could hardly be recognizable as a beautiful suit it was, and tossed it into the garbage without even a spare thought. Havoc's cerulean eyes, hard and cold, watched it go and then he whispered, more to himself than to his companion, "I won't be needing that, will I?"

Edward, his eyes fighting to stay open, clapped his steel fist against his friend's metallic shoulder, a shoulder that lay exposed now, as the man's undershirt was only half a shoulder long in the sleeves. He replied in a hushed undertone tinged with an almost paternal kindness, "We'll find her, Havoc. I'm sure we will."

"Yes," Havoc stated, but the shadow of pain lingered upon his brow and his mind echoed the question he dared not speak aloud: 'But will we find her alive?'

--

Edward slumped down into the seat of the train car, his lack of luggage more than obvious as, unlike any previous time he had been on one of these, he had nothing to store in the overhead compartment and therefore no cause to sprain his back and suffer the ride in misery as was his usual routine. He hadn't brought his trusty deck of cards, either. Then again, he doubted the homunculus and the military man were as foolish as Alphonse, so his shenanigans would probably have been for naught anyway, and Ed had more than enough to worry about as it was.

"You two could have at least changed before coming," Lust chided as she settled in the seat across from the men, her nose wrinkling as if she smelled something foul. One leg crossed delicately over the other in the most feminine way, her hair splaying over her shoulders and down her weighty chest as she shook the mane from her eyes, muttering, "I hate men."

Edward shot her a gaze as he lay down against the seat's armrest, biting his lower lip to hide the burn of injury that was slowly creeping through his bones. He was a royal mess: hair color unrecognizable for all the mud clotted in it, face dirty and smudged, red jacket torn, pants equally ripped, brown earth everywhere and blood stains on the white lining of his shirt. A black and blue bruise shined painfully from his right cheek and his flesh hand raised to rub the wound tenderly. He was thankful at times like these that each set of seats within the train had its own room, so that at least he wouldn't have to put up with the patronizing stares of the other, more stable passengers. "Yeah, well, this isn't exactly my vision of perfect company either."

"Oh, really now, young alchemist?" Lust chuckled. "Not even slightly moved by my feminine charm? Well, that's too bad. Then again, I could have anyone, you know; why would I want a pair of vermin like you anyway?" Though her words were taunting, there was a certain venomous streak to them - she actually had been put off by his remark. The homunculi's luxurious violet eyes gazed toward the two darkly, and there was something vicious in them that made Edward seriously doubt her loyalty to their cause.

"Shut your mouth, you-" Edward nearly retorted foully, but doubled over mid-sentence, coughing hard and clutching at his heart. Havoc, the decided pillar of the group, reached his hands forward, caught Ed's shoulders, and tried to still the boy, but Ed shoved him away with a hand. "I'm fine…I'm-" he choked, "…fine…"

"Ed," Havoc said, quietly, "are you sure you can do this? You look like you're going to pass out. Get some rest for a while, at least." He reached out again and aided in laying his companion down, happening to notice out of the corner of his eye the wry quirk of a smirk that mustered itself on Lust's lips. He scowled. What was she up to?

"I don't-" Edward rasped, trying to sit back up, "-need to rest. If I can't learn to deal with this, then I'm as good as dead anyway. I have to..." He coughed, and it took all his efforts to regain himself long enough to finish, "...to be strong. For Winry's sake."

"But boss..." Jean sighed; no use arguing with the boy. He was an Elric after all; that stubborn and ignorant attitude was just part of the boy's blood. Instead, he brushed the hair out of his eyes and tried to scope out a good place to sit. Edward needed the entire bench on one side to himself...that only left the seat by Lust, if he wanted to sit with the group. In truth, Havoc would have rather settled himself with strangers than here, but Ed might need him sooner or later and it was a fool's thought to leave the young blond with the she-demon alone, so Jean begrudgingly chose the unavoidable place at Lust's side. She glanced over at him as he sat, and he returned the gaze, startled at the sudden intensity those amythest orbs had as they looked into his own ocean-blue eyes. He blushed, inwardly reprimanded the feelings that he still had for this malicious creature, and looked away.

"Look," Lust said, her eyes narrowing just in the slightest, and her lips tightening with all seriousness. "I know that we haven't been good friends in the past, FullMetal."

"You think?" Edward mumbled sarcastically.

Lust ignored him. "And I know that you have that grudge against me still, Jean, for what I did to you and your precious Taisa, but that's not going to help us capture Envy and get your girl back." She waited until both men were looking directly at her, until her eyes could connect with Ed Elric's, and until he had stopped choking so frantically, and then she held out her hand to him in a peaceful gesture. "I propose a truce."

Ed considered. "A truce..." He looked to Havoc, who, having heard the same proposal and who had gotten his blush under control by now, nodded encouragingly. Might as well have a contract on this whole "I'm-not-going-to-kill-you-for-the-time-being-fest, even if it was only verbal. Edward turned back to Lust, held out his metal hand and took hers in his. "I accept. But only until we capture Envy."

"I agree. After that, we're enemies again," Havoc remarked. "And if you come anywhere near me or Winry after this, I'll cut your throat." There was malice to his words, an emotion that Lust had not often felt from him and it did momentarily unsettle her to hear it now; but she quickly smirked and turned away, as if to say, "I know." Her hand wrenched from Ed's and, as the train throttled on into the distance, she let her gaze wander out the window without another word.

They were on their way.

--

Darkness was falling; the evening sky was aflame, all golds and reds and oranges with the long, billowing streaks of the retreating purple clouds. Beyond the ruddy train window, the meadows stretched on for miles, a sea of green grass as far as the eye could see. Nothing moved in the distance, but for the fading sun and the shadows of day-walkers returning to their evening homes to await a new morning. The locomotive thundered on.

Inside the train, Edward stirred. His petite frame rose from the hard, wooden bench upon which he had been laying for the past three hours. His back snapped in protest; he moaned with pain, but covered his mouth just as quickly as he noticed that, across from him, Lust had curled her body against the window, and Havoc, at the opposite end of the bench, was wrapped up like a dog. Both were sound asleep, or at least seemed to be - he wasn't quite sure if other homunculi slept.

"Well, I'll be damned," Ed muttered, and slid his feet from the bench as if to stand, when suddenly a new fit of coughing threatened to take him and caused him to recoil with gritted teeth against the pain, clasping a hand tight over his mouth to subdue the noise. Like a deer, hidden deep in the underbrush to avoid the hunter's gun, his eyes darted fearfully to where the other two lay. A voice slammed into his mind, unspoken but with such a fury that his body was thrust back against his seat with the intensity of the cold, metal words: "GET OUT!"

"Y-y-you c-can't," Ed panted, his voice par whisper, "N-not here...Greed, dammit, not-" But the voice and the anger, the hatred and the cruelty were bursting within him, and the sense of a cold, chilling laughter that went unheard but not unfelt. Ed could barely breathe again. His hand fell from his mouth and clutched his chest, wanting to scream, but not daring to. His head felt as if someone had just dropped a fifty-ton block upon it. It HURT. "G-Greed...p-please..."

"GET OUT!" the command was more vicious this time and, without wanting to, without meaning to, Edward leapt from his seat, ran down the aisle, and darted out the back door of the train, stumbling about in a desperate attempt to find a quiet place in the caboose - a place he could hide.

All the while, the voice in his mind screamed and, though his eyes were not closed, though he was far from dreaming, Edward could see the glaring violet eyes of the beast haunting his steps. What was Greed playing at this time? He'd never felt himself subject to a greater fury than this and the scariest, more terrifying thing about it was that he knew the sin was not even trying at the moment.

And a thought hit him. This homunculus, this demon spawned by that little glowing red stone inside of him...Edward knew that it would be his end.

**To Be Continued**


	11. Chapter XI: The Return of Sin

_**"Yowai Yume Ai"  
A fanfiction by Erin Lightning**_

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**Chapter XI**

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'Breathe, breathe, breathe!'

Edward's back slammed with an immense force against the door leading into the caboose, the great steel bulk of it falling back into place behind himself as he slumped over, perfectly secure now that he was away from the prying eyes of the other passengers and far from where the others would see him. He didn't want them to know. The sun burned down upon him mercilessly, his eyes unable to adjust to it in their unstable state. Every sound was drowned out in the rush of the wheels on the track below. His hands clutched at his heart, or lack thereof, clawing at his chest as his breath wheezed from his steadily-deflating lungs. His eyes shut tight, and his teeth gnashed together, his legs sinking beneath him until he lay on the rickety metal floor, pulling himself close to the exit and drawing his legs toward himself. When the pain became too much to bear, he forced his eyes open. Was this it? Was it time? Across from him the train bustled steadily over the tracks and he could see, over the guardrail that separated him at this current time from those tracks, the luminescence of the fields beyond. He slipped into delirium; he forgot who he was in a matter of seconds, where he was, what he was. What a sun! What a horizon! To think that this might be the last thing he would ever see! He almost laughed; how funny it was that he should have to end it right here. He'd heard that most people prayed right before they knew they were going to die, as if that last prayer might mean something to "God". Ed didn't believe in a God. He'd rather die laughing.

"You're pathetic, thinking about death when you've only suffered a little pain," hissed a voice oozing cruel, cold venom.

"Greed!" Edward choked the word in surprise. His eyes blinked, as if looking for the speaker, forgetting that this voice had come always disembodied.

"Do you want to die here?" Greed queried in a bemused voice with no traceable gender. A new wave of pain ripped through the young blonde's body at the words, tearing through every vein and every muscle like a wildfire - ravaging, devastating. It drew a squeaking cry of pain from him and the boy drew even closer into himself, curling his body tight in the fetal position as he bit back the tears. He'd never felt something so terrible. Never. "It could be arranged, you know."

"N-no!" Edward replied, sharply, his voice exhausting all the breath in him. Greed's poisonous flame settled, drawing back to the boy's stone the same way it came and vanishing from there, back into that gem of almighty power. The alchemist flopped against the ground, his entire form becoming limp in seconds.

"Oh, come now, it's not that bad to die you know." Greed sneered. "You've done it before."

For emphasis, Edward felt his body tilted in an instant to a strange degree from the ground that didn't really seem humanly possible. He slid and panic seized him - a sudden fear that he might slide through the guardrails and straight off the train. "N-NO!" he cried again in vain and, shutting his eyes tight, he screamed a scream that went silent and unheard in a great wind that had begun to manifest itself around him.

He waited, deaf and mute in the monstrous tempest, but he did not fall. He did not crash, and he was not blown away. The wind died down and he made as if to open his eyes, but when he did, he found himself face-to-face with the devil – a creature with massive violet eyes and teeth that could tear straight through a platinum rod, whose body was all shadows and darkness in the shape of a human being – androgynous, but still human. And the devil supported him, holding the struggling Edward Elric up in the air quite a few feet above the ground by his shirt collar, as a dog might hold its pup. Except a dog would know not to sink its fangs into the newborn, whereas the demon took great delight in allowing its claws to bite into the teen's flesh.

"Greed!" Edward moaned, and winced.

"Is that all you can say?" Greed asked, irked. "For a boy who's beaten me twice, I'd think you'd be more verbal." Disgust rendered in the monster's eyes and, almost boredly, he tossed the boy back onto the platform. Edward hit hard, winced again and, still terrified of falling, scratched at the metal beneath him with his hands, trying to retain a decent grip on it. Greed merely groaned, "You won't fall. Honest. So knock off that pathetic display, will you?" Edward stopped. Greed dropped down beside where the boy was seated and instantly the homunculus' form became that of the first "Greed" Edward had met, a stiflingly beautiful playboy who hid a great set of muscles beneath a black t-shirt and pimp jacket, fierce violet eyes glaring from a cocky, smug visage. Greed leaned back against the guardrail, resting nonchalantly, thoughtful.

When the eyes of his companion, so curious in their childishness and staring at him with a young boy's anticipation, became too annoying, Greed growled, "What? What the hell do you want?" His hand became black daggers, gnarled and deadly claws of carbon steel. His lips turned upward, a nasty smirk settling. "Too frightening for you, LITTLE boy?"

Edward looked away, ashamed and angered. "Don't call me little! And what the hell's with this sudden transformation, hm? Why couldn't you have just done this before instead of using me as your freaking human shield? I mean.." He found his feet all too fast, wobbled precariously as if they might collapse beneath him again and then spat, "I mean, look at me!" His arms were thrown wide, revealing the teenager whose body was soaked through with rain, sweat and blood, and whose clothes were in tatters and covered in mud. "Why the hell didn't you do something to stop all of this?"

Greed looked him over once, but then the grin faded, replaced by a darkening scowl. "I don't play babysitter, kid."

"Then why are you here?"

"Look," Greed snapped, and he stepped toward the boy, who took a step backward for security, but all too late as the carbon claws mauled the neckline of his shirt, hefting him off his feet once more so that the goldenrod eyes of the alchemist were now level with the demonic amythest ones of the devil, "I didn't want this either. But, if you want to live, we're going to play by my rules, got it? If you're going to be my host, you'd best damn well learn who calls the shots around here. I'll give you one clue: it sure as fucking hell ain't you, shorty."

It wasn't a smart idea to speak back to a homunculus. Apparently, Ed hadn't learned that yet. "SHORTY?" he burst, struggling against Greed's grip with flailing arms and thrashing legs. "Who are you calling shorty? It's my body, isn't it?" Edward threatened, forcing all his courage into the seething scowl he returned.

Greed surveyed those harsh golden eyes but a second longer and then, smirking, he let his claws dig into Ed's neck just enough to draw blood. Edward bit down on his lip to fight the pain, but a whimper sounded from his throat involuntarily. The carbon claws slashed a thin trail down the boy's neck, and, drawing them back as he set the alchemist back on the ground, the homunculus licked his fingers like a man having just enjoyed an exquisite meal. Ed rubbed at the wound, and his eyes narrowed with anger and arrogance. "What the hell was that for-"

"That is where your jugular lies. An inch further in and, stone or no stone, you'd be quite dead. Unless I were to return to your body and rejuvenate it, which, right now, let's just say I'm not too inclined into doing."

Edward's hand balled into a fist. "You bastard. That's cheating."

"LIFE is cheating, kid, that's the first rule. How do you think the people who run your country got there? By swindling, by bribing and, worst of all, by killing. Look at your little Mustang – the only one who wants what's best for this country, and what position does he have again? And even he's killed people." He paused, trying to remember something, but shrugged it off. "That's unimportant. But, I've proven my point, so now will you listen?"

"Tell me what you want with me," Ed demanded, backing away as Greed advanced on him, one hand clutching the wound on his neck that blossomed red and ran in a river down his shoulder, soaking his garments.

"Ah, now that's what I like about you, Elric: Your determination. When you're not too afraid to show it, that is. What do I want? Me? Well, that's where you lucked out. I want the same thing you want." Edward cocked his head in interest, and Greed paused, blinking. "Something wrong?"

"What I want?"

"Yes. The death of Envy."

"But, why? Isn't he your brother?" Edward asked, obviously confused. Sure, he had seen them quarrel in the past, but again - weren't all the homunculi on one side?

"NO!" raged Greed and his voice was so loud and deafening that Edward backed up that last step into the door. Greed's mighty teeth gnashed together, pearl-white shark fangs, and he flashed full-carbon for a second, eyes narrowed to slits. "No, he's not, not that bastard, not that serpent, not that demon!" He calmed, gradually and, looking at his hands as if surprised at the strength of his own anger, he let the carbon fade. He took a deep breath and considered his next sentence before he uttered it. "I hate him; he was father's little pet, and so he thinks he's better than any other homunculus. He's a freak. He doesn't deserve the control he thinks he has, and I've wanted his blood for years." He paused, and refocused on Edward. "He stole that girl, didn't he?"

"Winry..." Edward said and his balled fist fell at his side. His head dropped, losing eye contact with Greed for the briefest instant before the homunculus, smiling, lowered his right hand and raised Ed's gaze to meet his own again.

"You killed me once. You stayed with this form all that night, remember? And you cried. You made a grave for it, though you knew it wasn't human. And you protected the woman who was my companion, at least for as long as you could." A grave look came over Greed's face one more and he wouldn't look at Ed for a few moments, as if he were mourning Martel's loss, though how he knew of her death was unknown to Ed. When he spoke again, it was with a great deal of resolve. "And when this form was in the guise of your human friend and being manipulated at Envy's hand, you fought him off and were loyal to her. Resolved. That's why I've chosen not to let you die."

Sarcastically, Edward said, "Gee, thanks for the favor."

Greed ignored the quip. "You need me to survive. And I need you to destroy that bastard."

"And when he's dead?"

Greed stroked his chin with one claw, contemplating. "I haven't decided."

"Then no deal," Edward said, but found himself a second later, without ever knowing how he had gotten there, lying on the floor and clutching his chest, a new pain coursing through him. "Aaah-"

"I warn you, boy," Greed snarled from above him, though a playful snarl. A challenge. "It's not smart to tempt me."

The pain lifted from Edward in the same amount of time it had taken for it to come to him in the first place and he was sitting up and blinking before he realized it. "This is a joke."

"I assure you, Elric, it's not. Now," Greed replied, with a chuckle, "What's it going to be? Will you be my slave, or my newest torture victim?"

Edward didn't have to think long. "As long as it means Winry will be saved."

Greed smirked. "Wonderful. Now, since we're going to be working together, if you-" But it was at that very second, as the homunculus was mid-sentence, that a gigantic jolt of energy rocked the train.

And, in a flurry of flames, smoke, and darkness, Elric, Greed, and the entire caboose vanished.

**To Be Continued**


	12. Chapter XII: Behind It All

_**"Yowai Yume Ai"  
A fanfiction by Erin Lightning**_

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**Chapter XII**

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Winry woke to the rustle of the sheets that had laid so complacently over her for the past several hours. Dazed and disoriented, she blinked several times in an attempt to put the room around her into order. She tried to sit up, but felt the bite of chains into her wrists, ankles, and waist all at once and, grimacing, she fell back down to the soft cushions. Her eyes darted up and down her frame, trying to determine exactly what sort of predicament she had gotten herself into this time. She gasped; the results were not to her liking. Her beautiful, pearl-white gown was in tatters, blood-stained (thank god not with her own blood!) and bound with spiked chains. That's right, the chains were SPIKED. Her arms were tied outwards with the same chains, and her legs stretched wide at the foot of the bed upon which she lay, a bed the same crimson as the blood stains upon her own person.

"What kind of perverted sicko..." She started and tossed her gaze about the room to seek out its owner. A window at the far end, quite a large one at that, was draped over with heavy black curtains, obscuring any and all light that dared venture into the cryptic haunt. No artificial light could be seen from where she sat but, at the far end, an old-fashioned telephone on a large, polished table met her eyes. Books lay scattered on the floor and implements of destruction. No doors in sight; no exit, nothing. Her heart pounded in her chest.

What had happened? Where was Havoc? This couldn't be the church, could it? She vaguely remembered a green-black form...and...Ed?

Unexpectedly, a shadow rose up beside her and, within seconds, a leering youth's face dropped down until it was only an inch or so from Winry's, long brackish-colored locks draped over the shoulders of the pale-white ghost and vibrant violet eyes gleaming with mischief. "It's about fucking time you woke up, Princess," the voice practically glowed with confidence.

Winry started. "Who are you? What do you want with me?"

"Who am I? A demon. What do I want with you? Well, you don't look like a good fuck, so nothing. You're just bait. So I can kill the midget-shrimp and his buddies." The smirk grew and the homunculus, whose sleek, marble form showed off his absolutely perfectly-chiseled muscles beneath a tight-fitting tank top and skort, twiddled absently with a strand of his palm hair.

"Bastard!" Winry snarled, her fierce eyes aglow. She curled her tongue and spat straight up into his face. Her aim was on target; the saliva clung to the serpent's left cheekbone, and the smirk instantly vanished, replaced by a look of savage rage.

"You bitch!" Envy hurled his arm down and pinned his unfortunate captive by her throat. "I've killed for less!"

"T-then why haven't you killed me yet?" Winry rasped, her airway cut by the pincer-grip.

Envy's flaming eyes settled; he pushed in harder to make the girl yelp with pain for just a mere moment, then withdrew his arm entirely and brushed his tresses back out of his face, straightening. "Because. Like I said, you're bait. I've got bigger fish to fry. Or should I say littler?" The devilish smirk returned at the insult.

Winry choked, coughed hard and had to close her eyes with the strain, wincing in agony. When her eyes reopened, she managed to murmur, "Why? Why do you want Edward?"

Envy's gaze fluttered from her to the shielded window. His fingers retraced their way up his shoulder, gripped one long spike of his mane, and began to twirl it between his thumb and index finger once more. He thought. "Because once I have you, he'll come. Greed."

"Greed?"

Envy tossed her a look back over his shoulder. "Hate to tell you, but that stone your boy's livin' with? It's not JUST any stone. It's Greed's. And your little boyfriend made a pact with that devil."

Winry's eyes widened and she fumbled for the words. "Ed...Ed wouldn't..."

"No?" Envy's wicked grin grew and his eyes, one cast back to look at her, gleamed with a maniacal radiance. "Well, wait until he comes. And then I'll rip him apart and show you the boy and the monster. Maybe you'll believe it then."

"Please, don't hurt him!"

"Too late. It's either me or Greed; one of us is going to finish him off, and I plan to take them both down at once." His playfully cruel demeanor vanished without a warning, and a scowl took its place. He averted his gaze from her, and the next words he spoke were delivered with a malicious, rueful tone, dead-serious: "Do you have any idea what that shorty did to me? That little bastard tried to kill me and when I killed him, FATHER took his side and dragged me off. You'll never imagine the torture I went through. He tried to boil me alive in acid. Ever tried it before? I guarantee you it ain't pretty. I hate humans, every damn one. And I hate homunculi, especially Greed. And once I finish with that boy and that avaricious freak, then my dear creator's next and, pretty soon, this entire world will be mine!"

"I won't let you!"

"Oh please; do you look like you're in a position to threaten ME, little girl?" He lightened. "What do you say; your little chibi's been looking for the Philosopher's Stone for years. How about I help him find it?" He licked his lips again, sinister. "Him and all the rest the world." And, lowering himself over Winry, he grinned as she tried to turn her head away from him and grimaced at his touch as he grabbed her by her long, golden locks. He yanked her head up until it hurt her and, forcing those brilliant blue eyes open, he glared directly into her. "And you? You play your cards right, and maybe I'll let you live. As my whore."

Winry spat again; this time, Envy's fist flew from his side and decked her across the side of the face, knocking her unconscious. He dropped her back onto the bed, and, leaning his head in just an inch from her ear, he whispered, "It will be such a pleasure to kill that boy right in front of you, Winry Rockbell. And it'll be even better to fuck you right in front of his dead, bloody body. Just you wait; you'll regret that last insult."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Meanwhile, in Central Headquarters, a young Colonel sat at his desk, elbows resting upon it and fingers laced, propping up his heavy head as he thought. Tears slid down his cheeks. Like a knife, cutting deep into his memories and into his very soul, he saw the back of that mud-streaked red coat vanishing into the distance, through the rain. He heard his own screams and then the voice of the priest who had rushed inside to retrieve a hammer with which to free Mustang from Edward's trap. But by then, it was too late to go after the alchemist; Roy knew he would never catch up with him. It was over.

Now already a day had passed and Roy still couldn't pull himself from that horrible depression. He could still feel the lingering warmth of passion on his lips, that last electric kiss that Ed had bestowed upon him as a parting gift. His body ached from the physical skirmish, but his heart had been wounded a thousand times worse from the emotions that he could not hide, could not bottle up in his lover's absence. He slammed his head against his hands, midnight eyes burning. Dammit! DAMMIT! He was such an idiot, such a fool, such a...

"Excuse me, sir," a young man peered into the room, having knocked and entered unnoticed by his superior. He blinked in confused intrigue; no one had ever seen the Colonel so distressed before. Few, in fact, had seen him at all.

Taisa straightened immediately, flicking away a tear and trying to seem stone-cold, which was easy - he was annoyed at being interrupted and this irritation was evident in his voice. "Yes?" he demanded. "What is it?"

"Papers, sir..." The man said and quickly hustled across the room, lay down the papers on Roy's desk, and retreated. At the door, a safe distance from the Flame Colonel, he stated, "They're due by the end of the day, sir."Roy merely nodded and waved an obligatory dismissal at the officer, who was more than happy to oblige. A

lone once more, Mustang surveyed the papers. 'Not so long ago, it was Riza who used to bring me these things,' he thought, and was hit by a wave of nostalgia in consequence. Riza. It'd been a while since he'd thought of her. He saw her dead body, lying sprawled atop a heap of charred forms just like it, and then the shadow of her form – her homunculus – disappearing into a gorgeous golden glow in sacrifice to save Ed. Only, look what that damned sacrifice had done – it'd left the poor alchemist a cripple! Doomed him. And there was nothing that Roy could do now that the boy was gone. He slammed his head back against the table.

"Love is patient...love is kind...it has the power to protect," he whispered; then angrily: "Stupid! Idiot! How could I let him-" And then the unmistakable sound of a gun clicking. Mustang would know that noise anywhere. He jumped up, upsetting his chair, his hand flying before him, fingers poised to snap. But what lay before his eyes' gaze him pause. A shiver convulsed through his entire frame. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. His hand fell to his side. And he muttered just one word:

"R-Riza?"

**To Be Continued**


	13. Chapter XIII: Ghosts of the Past

_**"Yowai Yume Ai"  
A fanfiction by Erin Lightning**_

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**Chapter XIII**

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"Riza?"

Untouched by time. Beautiful. An angel fallen from Heaven. A fleeting dream on a midsummer's night. Riza Hawkeye, in all of her splendor stood before Roy and he could swear, and always would, that this was no dream. The amber-brown eyes that stared back at him, large and gentle like a does' eyes, though sharp as the bird from which her last name was derived, and her complete and total composure in the face of impossibility showed a Lieutenant every bit as he had ever remembered her. Her uniform had not a single wrinkle upon it, immaculate, and there was not a goldenrod strand on her head that was out of place. Her smile was gentle, though, when she spoke, her voice was harsh and the words she said brought a new wave of pain to cross his chest. "Get a hold of yourself, sir." The familiar gun that she had always used to threaten him before glittered in her right hand. "Is this how you're honoring the memory of the subordinates who died for your sake – by sitting here at a time like this? Doing nothing?"

"Riza, I-" He was cut short by a gunshot that flew straight past his head and, now certain that this was no mirage, he stumbled backward, caught off-guard, tripping over the chair and landing sprawled behind the desk.

"Believe what you want to believe, Mustang. I always believed in you, sir. Why do you think I followed you? Because I looked up to you. You were someone I respected. Sir, look at yourself!" Roy did. "This isn't the Taisa I died serving."

"Me neither." As if summoned from the air itself, another familiar form materialized beside Hawkeye; a figure whose two gentle golden eyes flashed from behind a pair of rectangular glasses and whose jet black beard and short, scraggly tresses that outlined his face reflecting a friend Roy could never forget. "Hey Mustang, it's been awhile."

"Hughes?" Roy beamed.

"Sorry, Roy, I'm not here to chat today. Hawkeye's right. You need to move on. We can't come back, but Ed needs you now. He's alive and, well, Mustang, I don't know how to say this...You're the only one who can protect that kid. You two've been through some tough times. You're the only one, other than his brother, that I think Edward can ever truly trust. If you abandon him...Roy, then he's done for." He paused, contemplating the Colonel on the floor. His eyes seemed to cloud. "I've missed you so much," he remarked, softly. "Don't let it be for naught."

"But, Hughes, I'll just hold him back!" Roy said and his hand rose to brush against his cheek, again feeling the resounding ache of the blow Edward had dealt him the night before. Those words had hurt worst of all. "I'll just get in his way, like I got in yours." His head dropped. "If it weren't for me, then you...you might..."

Another gunshot; Roy ducked this time. "Hell if you got in my way, Sir." Hawkeye growled. "I chose to follow you, didn't I? I saw that thing...that homunculus and I chose to try and take it out on my own. I was foolish, but I wasn't stupid, and neither were you. I did it because...because..."

Hawkeye bit her lip, unable to say the words, so Hughes interrupted with: "Yeah, and I underestimated the guy. Doesn't matter if I was trying to reveal him to you in my last minutes, Mustang. I was the one who screwed up, not you." Hughes grinned. "Know how many times I would have died in Ishvar if it weren't for you, Flame?"

"But...what can I do? He wanted to go with that homunculus...Him and Havoc left with her. He told me not to come and I..."

Hughes blinked and looked at Hawkeye. She cast a cold glare in return, but Hughes just laughed. Walking over to Roy, he wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulders and slowly helped him to his feet. At the man's touch, Roy's eyes widened and he placed a hand on Maes', clutching tight. "You're really here..." Roy mumbled in amazement.

"Are you actually going to take orders from that bean?" Hughes laughed. "And yes, yes I am. For right now. But not if you're going to give up on me."

"Hughes..."

"He's right, Sir. It's time you got back on the right track. You can either stay here, doing papers and serving Fuhrer Bradley until the end of your days, knowing that this time it is your fault that one of your subordinates dies, or you can go after him. It can never hurt to try." Hawkeye lowered the gun, but her eyes became very heavy. "I thought you said you would look out for those below you. I thought I gave you my father's teachings for a reason. He's only a boy, Taisa! I thought you said you loved him."

Roy blushed. A feeling of awkwardness came over him at the sincerity of Riza's last comment. "I do..."

Hughes chuckled again and beat a hand against Roy's chest. "Thatta boy, Roy! I knew one of these days you'd find someone; however, with your luck with the ladies, I always figured it'd be a sexy gal, but that Ed Elric's a good catch too!" He leaned in closer and whispered in a fatherly tone: "Don't you let him go, tiger."

Roy brightened just slightly; Hawkeye smiled the faintest of smiles, but regarded them in silence. She looked at Roy directly and at length said, "So, what are you going to do?"

Mustang returned the smile. He thought for a moment. Then he straightened himself up, brushed himself off, and retrieved his paperwork. "Well," he stated, matter-of-factly, "First I'm going to torch these." He did so, and it gave him great pleasure to see the forms go up in smoke and flames. Too long since he'd done that too. "And then I'm going to go do the same to a homunculus. Or two, or three."

Hawkeye holstered her gun. "Well done, Colonel."

"I knew you'd make the right choice, Roy!" Hughes applauded softly, still cracking a grin, but cut short as his form began to shift out-of-focus, as if someone had blurred him out of the room. He came back into focus and blinked once or twice, opened his mouth, and then began to shimmer again, like a quiet pool where into a rock had been tossed.

"Maes! Not again, please don't leave me!" Roy cried out, feeling the hand on his shoulder beginning to fade. "Stay...stay with me this time...we'll go together."

"I can't do that, Roy," Maes replied and cursed softly before raising his hands in a defensive gesture, body flickering in and out again. "Aww, crud. Looks like I'm out of time. Hey, Roy, take care of Gracia and Elysia for me, okay? And make sure you get some pictures of my darling girl for me! I'll be watching you."

"Don't go!" Roy moaned, feeling the sorrow welling up inside him again.

"Afraid I have no choice, Taisa...but before I go..." Hughes' voice had become like static, and his body was now almost completely gone. Roy barely saw the movement of a ghostly hand reaching toward his face, felt Hughes pull closer as if to embrace him, and then...He was cut off, gone from sight. Roy, devastated, let himself fall backward into his chair, the chair that Hughes had righted after it being knocked over moments ago, tears tugging at his eyes. He would have broken down and cried right there again, would have lost all resolve, but...

Hawkeye smiled sadly, and she moved over to Roy, not hesitating now that there was no one but the two of them in sight. She reached for his hand and he let her take it and hold it close to her. "Please, Roy," she whispered, using his first name for the first time in years, "Please take care of that boy. He loves you, and you love him...and...I'm so happy for you. Don't lose that bond you have...like I lost ours."

"Hawkeye, you were the bravest person I ever knew." He looked up at her, and, sensing the same sorrow he felt right now in her, he added, "Still are, if you have to put up with Photo-lover wherever it is you've gone to."

Hawkeye couldn't help but widen her smile in the slightest. "I don't know how he gets new pictures, but..." She chuckled, and Roy followed suit.

"You have to go back too, don't you?" Roy asked.

"Yes, Roy. But I'll never go far," she added. "The other side is a wonderful place, Roy. Don't be sad for me. I'm sure we'll meet there again someday. All of us. Armstrong, Hughes, myself, and the others - we're all waiting there for you."

"Riza..." he moaned, aching throughout his entire body with misery. "Riza, please, I need you..." But the gentle brush of her lips against his silenced him, both outside and in.

"Believe in yourself, Roy. Be the Taisa that I always admired. Be the Taisa who has been with me since I was young, the one I was proud to serve and to die for." Her image began to fade.

Roy nodded and a single tear slid down his face, landing right on top of their joined hands. He smiled, and tried to force a bit of his cocky old attitude into the smile, though it just made him look goofy. "I won't let you down, Taii."

As she drew away, Hawkeye said, almost as an afterthought, "Keep my regards and my love, Sir. Though the second will never be returned to me, I could never love anyone else. Take care of Hayate, and by all means Take care of Elric. I admit.." she hesitated, and clutched his hand even tighter, knowing she would be gone in but a second. "I'm jealous of him."

And then, as quickly as she had come, she was gone too, and Roy was alone again.

But this time, he did not despair. A tear fell, but the tide stayed back. Mustang glanced over to his desk, and lifted a hand to raise the faint photograph, weathered by time and dust from sitting in one place far too long and until now tipped downward so that he would not be able to look upon it. To his wonder, and possibly his joy, it still showed a young Colonel Mustang with the entire crew of alchemists and military around him that he was happy to call his friends. He smiled. This time, he stood straight and tall and, rushing to the door of his office, he shouted at one of the passing subordinates, "Tell the Fuhrer I quit. I'm going to Dublith. I'm going to save the man I love!"

And as the door to Mustang's office slammed once more, that same subordinate had to debate with himself whether to call the Fuhrer and relay the message, or to call the psychiatric staff and warn them that one of their patients may have escaped prematurely.

What he settled on is up to your imagination, but there was no mistaking one thing: the Flame Alchemist was on his way.

**To Be Continued**


	14. Chapter XIV: Lure of the Siren

_**"Yowai Yume Ai"  
A fanfiction by Erin Lightning**_

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**Chapter XIV**

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______

_Edward groaned, coughing vigorously and peering with once more bright golden eyes through the cloud of smoke and vapor that had enveloped him in its noxious embrace. His automail arm held tight to the slick steel ground beneath him which, thank god, he had not slid off of in the confusion. The fleshen hand gripped his side, a side had slammed hard against the caboose's rails when the locomotive had suddenly slammed its brakes and the thunder of wheels had come effectively to a dead stop. _

_"Why's there so much smoke?" Edward moaned, coughing with the fumes. It took him a moment to realize he was alone again. Innocently, he queried, "Greed? Greed, are you there?" There was no immediate answer. A sick thought crossed the boy's mind: maybe he had been thrown off in that blast. He was smiling as he threw a his weight onto the automail arm and started to get up, but couldn't quite make it. "Ouch," his voice echoed in the emptiness. He blinked, and asked no one in particular: "What happened?"_

_"Smoke bomb," came the homunculi's grudging reply, and, sarcastically, "And if you keep thinking like that," he said, indicating the joke about him being ejected from the locomotive, "I'll be the one hurling you off."  
_

_Ed drew back sheepishly, but simply asked, "Out here?" He moved his palm up to feel his aching head, checking beneath the blonde mop for injuries. "Jesus..."_

_"Two inside, one out here, just in case. Or at least in the caboose car"_

_"Wait a minute," Edward said, finding no injuries and dragging himself to his feet at last with a little bit of effort. At times, he loved having boots with several inches of cold, thick steel on the bottoms: they not only made him taller, but also protected him against all sorts of dangers. And then there were some times he really hated them, especially when their lack of grip was throwing off his balance. "Where are you?" he asked. "I can't find you."_

_"Inside your mind..." Greed droned. "Seems I can't stay away from the stone my soul's bound to for too long, without having to return that is."_

_"Well, on the plus side, that's good for me to know. On the minus, it means I really do have a psychotic homicidal killer in my mind and I can't see a goddamned thing in front of-"_

_"Shh!" Greed silenced him with a sharp, dragonic hiss. "Someone's coming!"_

_Elric spun around, his automail arm transmuting instantly into a blade, just in time to see a slim shadow bust down the door with a rather large gun in its hand that was easily twice the figures' size. "Who are you?" the black suit asked, in a peculiar voice that Edward could swear he had heard before. The gun lowered, aiming toward his head._

_Edward smirked. He took a fighting stance, not even bothering to notice that the second Greed had returned inside of him, the wounds and injuries that his body had sustained in the previous days had quelled substantially and that the stone inside of him had quieted, at least for a while. "I could ask you the same question." _

_The visibility was enough now that he could get a clear view of his attacker. Long blonde hair tumbled down the hijacker's shoulders and, though her face was masked, Edward knew instinctively it was a girl by the rack she bore. He didn't like looking at girls, but then, he wasn't stupid. She advanced toward him; the smoke was clearing slightly and now he quite clearly had a view of the two icy blue eyes that bore through the mask at him, the points on either side of said mask and a gape to match his own sewn into her lips. What sealed the deal was what she held in the hand that wasn't hefting the heavy artillery...a deck of regular, old 52-count playing cards._

_"Whoa, what a babe," Greed remarked, whistling. Ed ignored him._

_"Psiren?" he asked, taking a step forward and peering up at her with an inquisitive look on his face._

_"Edward Elric?" she returned with the same questioning tone and looked down at the young man in front of her, quite certain her eyes were lying to her, or at least it seemed that way from the strange, incessant blinking and mouth-slightly-open stare she was lending the boy. He was taller than the last time she had seen him; his hair was longer and though the coat was splashed with muck, she could still tell the crimson red of the "FullMetal Alchemist's jacket anywhere. She hefted the gun off of her shoulder and rested the barrel of the mighty weapon tentatively on the ground, propping her arm on the butt of it. "Well, well, little boy," she teased, trying to regain control over the situation, "Looks like we meet again. Want to lock me away this time too? Or are you here about that little rendez-vous you promised me?"_

_Edward blushed. "I didn't know you were here...I was just-just going to visit my Teacher, that's all." He forced a serious look back onto his still cherry-red visage. "But now that I see it, you're not exactly here for fun and games are you?"_

_"Nope," Psiren replied. "I was-"_

_She was interrupted mid-sentence by the sound of a gun clicking from behind her. The thief turned, her eyes landing on a very strange-looking pair standing in the doorway to the caboose room: Havoc and Lust, both with their hair messed, looking as if they had just crawled out of bed. One wielded his trusty little gun; the other had grown her claws out several times the normal length more to intimidate than anything else - one could never judge with such a creature as to whether she intended to step in, or merely take a pass in a fight. One could tell, however, that the homunculus was cranky. She hadn't slept in years, it could be assumed, and was none too happy about waking up now. On the other hand, she hadn't been pleased about falling asleep next to the cigarette-smoking moron, either._

_Edward's mind took only a second to register that his friends had come to back him and then another to realize that neither of his "bodyguards" actually knew who Psiren was. He waved his hands at them in a peaceable gesture and took several steps forward. "It's okay, Havoc, you can put that down..."_

_"But..." Havoc eyed Psiren's own weapon, then looked to Ed._

_"She's a...a friend," the young blonde stated - the words sounded awkward. Havoc, nevertheless, understood. He reholstered his weapon. "And Lust, the claws can go too..." Lust pretended not to hear Ed. FullMetal sighed._

_"Awfully frightening-looking friends just to go visit your teacher, Edward." Psiren smirked after eying the two over and, lifting up one long, slender, graceful arm, she removed the mask entirely, revealing her magnificent face: pale white skin with those piercing blue eyes and something Edward hadn't seen before._

_FullMetal ignored the first remark in lieu of what he saw right before his eyes and, awestruck, intoned:"Psiren, that scar-"_

_"Oh this?" she raised her fingers and brushed them down the length of a blood-red scar that ran from just over her left eyebrow, down the far side of her eye and jaggedly down the edge of her cheek to just below her ear. She smiled. "It's nothing; just a bit of a bad call. Happens in the business sometimes. You understand of course," she added the last bit with a bitter-sounding jab, as if she were somewhat cross that he had noticed the wound, and her eyes drifted to his arm and leg. "Find that little red stone yet?"_

_"Actually..." Ed started. He looked over at Havoc and Lust. Lust's "claws" still had yet to be sheathed, but she had wandered back into the last car, grumbling something about idiot men. Havoc simply shrugged, as if to tell Ed, "Say what you will". "It's a long story," Edward concluded._

"I've got time," Psiren replied, intent upon the answer.

_Ed sighed and took a seat. He told her about leaving his brother with his teacher, about going to the war and finding Mustang captured, about losing his memory, about fighting the homunculi and, finally, about becoming the stone. Havoc, standing at the doorway, listened patiently as he told his tale, and when he finished, Psiren nodded her head, and seemed contemplative._

_"I see, so you're..." she began, but paused, not wanting to finish the comment._

_"I don't know what I am. I just know that I have a friend, and she's in danger. And I'm going to get her back." Havoc twitched impulsively in the background and looked away. Psiren looked toward him worriedly, sensing the sudden tension from where he stood, but knew better than to ask._

_"And after that?"_

_"I...I don't know yet, but I'll think of something." He could feel Greed's malicious chuckle from within him and his eyes narrowed, causing Psiren to draw back from him in the slightest. She tilted her head, and was silent once more, thoughtful._

_"Look, kid," Psiren started, but looked up as both Lust and Havoc jumped behind her, gun and nails back out. A man had walked to the back door and now stood, looking out at where they were gathered on the caboose's platform. A gruff-looking fellow, very muscular and with sideburns and a face so ugly that he needed no mask, because no one would want to remember it. A common thug._

_"Hey, boss, we found it," he grunted and looked around at the others surrounding Psiren. A bashing stick held in one hand, which he raised so the spikes on it glinted in the fading sunlight, he asked, "These three twits botherin' you, boss? Youze want me to take 'em out?"_

_"You found it? Prefect." she replied to the first, then, waving a hand, "No...no...they're old acquaintances..." 'Besides,' she thought, 'To tango with the State Militia, especially those around Edward Elric, was pure suicide. They were almost invincibly strong-' Her brow furrowed. A light seemed to come on in the vixen's mind. "Say, Edward," she said, turning to look at the blonde boy._

_"Hm?"_

_"What do you say to joining up with us? We're about to pull off one of the biggest heists of the century...You'd be an awfully big help."_

_"No...no thanks, I don't want-" Ed replied, taken aback, but was cut short in his reply.  
_

_"Equivalent Exchange."_

_Edward blinked. "What?"_

_"Equivalent Exchange - You scratch my back; I'll scratch yours. Deal?" He stared back at her blankly and she sighed, reducing the matter to simpler terms: "I mean, you help us pull this off and I'll go with you to get your friend back. I could come in quite handy in reconnaissance missions, you know."_

_Again, Edward merely blinked and stared. "You want me to what?"_

_"Oh, it's nothing. Just rob a little treasure from one of the military vaults on board. What do you say?"_

_"Just say yes," Greed intoned from within Ed's mind, a cool, viciously delighted laugh echoing from him. "After all, a pretty girl wants your help - you're into the whole "damsel in distress" business, right? And...it's worth it just to corner and screw her later."_

_"Greed!" Edward reprimanded under his breath and then hissed with a sudden tightness in his chest._

_"You forget, boy," Greed growled, suddenly very serious. "I'M still the one in charge."_

_"She would make a good ally..." Ed agreed at length and, just as Psiren moved forward to see if he was alright, taken aback by his sudden pain, he choked out the words: "Fine! Fine, I'll do it!" _

_"What did you say?" Psiren brightened, almost unable to believe her ears._

_The grip from within Elric relaxed, but it left the boy panting. Greed's cackle again. "I said.." Ed coughed, "I'll do it...but I...I won't like it."_

_"I will for the both of us then," Greed retorted and laughed again, though only Edward heard the sound...a foreboding noise indeed. Almost foreshadowing, for now, caught between crime and death, the alchemist was beginning to wonder if he would ever even get a chance to see his brother or his teacher again, let alone rescue his friend._

**To Be Continued**


	15. Chapter XV: The Shrimp And The Shark

_**"Yowai Yume Ai"  
A fanfiction by Erin Lightning**_

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**Chapter XV**

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_____Edward couldn't believe he was doing this._

_____High above the tracks below which, moments earlier, had suddenly jolted back into motion, the young alchemist clutched the metal grips leading along the roof of the locomotive, his body pressed tightly to it in an effort not to be blown away by the winds whipping across the twilight sky. The only difficulty to it, besides the strain it put on his body, was the crossing between cars - one had to be half-primate to do it even remotely well and even then it was still terrifying as hell. The FullMetal Alchemist silently thanked his ancestors._

_____"Isn't a little shrimp like you afraid of being so high up?" Greed pestered in his boistrous and dark tone. Ed could feel the smile curling the monster's lips._

_____"No," Edward countered, resolute, "It's noth-HEY! WHO ARE YOU CALLING A TINY LITTLE APPETIZER THAT'S SO SMALL EVERYONE CANT WAIT FOR THEIR MAIN COURSE, YOU - YOU - SHARK-FANG!"_

_____"SHARK-FANG? WATCH WHAT YOU SAY!" Greed threatened, his voice amplified._

_____"Yeah?! Or wh-WHOA!" Edward cried out as the tightness rushed back into his chest and nearly thrust him over the edge of the roof. The feeling retreated back inside of him as quickly as it had come, but one could tell by the wide-eyed, panicked look on his face that he had not found the rebuttal amusing in any way. "Don't do that!" he yelled at Greed. "You almost gave me a heart attack!" He caught the irony of these words too late.  
_

_____"Do what?" the homunculus asked nonchalantly. When he sensed the rage flare up in Edward, his voice filled with amusement. "Relax, FullMetal. You should learn to control your temper...but a fall like that wouldn't kill you. You're the Ultimate Shield, remember?"_

_____Ed blinked, rage dissipating to awe. "I am?" He felt Greed's inward nodd. Another blink. "So...how do I turn all carbon? I mean, if that's what the Ultimate Shield does and you're him...shouldn't I know how it works?"_

_____Greed's voice crescendoed to an almost manic level, cackling amidst the delivery of the doctrine. "That's simple - you take human life, and it becomes your shield."_

_____"Oh, is that all?" Ed asked, disgusted, but not fazed by the answer. He had had an inkling it would be as such. All he heard was laughter. He shook his head. "Nothing doing. I don't kill."_

_"Sure you don't." Greed snapped, his laughter still having not subsided as of yet._

_"What do you mean by that?"_

_____"Just focus, Alchemist. We have a job to do."_

_____"A job to do, huh? And who got us into that-ARGH!" Another tightness, just one quick, sharp pang. "All right, all right, I'm going!"_

_____Greed laughed harder, thrilled with his control - a control one could tell by the tightness of the boy's brow was starting to get on the young Edo's nerves._

--

_"Always with the ventilation shafts, isn't it?" Edward groaned, inching his way along the metal compartment which, in all rights, he shouldn't even be able to fit in now. 'Come on!' he thought to himself, imploringly, 'I've grown!' He let out a tiny, exasperated sigh. "How much farther?" he asked Greed._

_"How in the hell am I supposed to know, kid? This is your show."_

_"My show, huh? Yeah right..." Ed grumbled. Sure, Psiren had explained the whole deal to him: climb in through the vents, throw one of those illustrious smoke bombs into the military compartment, get the book, and then open the door so that the reinforcements could finish off the brass before anyone got wise. "This is practically mutiny...if they catch us, we're going to have to answer to the guys with the guns."_

_"What's life without a little danger?" Greed asked nonchalantly._

_"A hell of a lot longer."_

_Greed grinned. "At least you have a sense of humor, shrimp. Maybe I'll keep you around a little longer after all."_

_"SHRIMP??" Ed turned to snap, forgetting that the voice was disembodied and that there really was nothing he could throttle in the shaft which would make him feel as though he were kicking the ass of the real thing. He sighed. His life had become nothing but bickering. "Couldn't you do something for a change, Sharky? Something useful? I mean, even Al is more help."_

_Pom-pom. Greed's smile throbbed with anger. "SHARKY??" He composed himself, then, almost too politely: "Very well. Do you want my help?"_

_"Shut up." Edward said, having had enough of the entire ordeal by now.  
_

_"I thought you said-"_

_"Yeah, well, I thought better of it."_

_"Fullmetal--?"_

_"I SAID SHUT-" CRASH! Edward, too busy talking with himself to watch his footing, had fallen down the straight drop from the upper ventilation shaft into the ninety-degree plummet from the uppermost catacomb of it into the personal vents. Of course, this would not be the stopping point for the injured alchemist, either, for a good fall never misses complimenting injury with insult. Hitting the floor of the lower shaft, Edward crashed face-first into the metal and slid..._

_...Right into the vent cover, which obligingly spit him out and onto the floor of the compartment it serviced..._

_Where three uniformed, heavily armed militia men stood agape at his presence, guns having trained on their attacker from the moment of his most startling entrance all the way to the disheveled boy sitting on the floor before them now with the wide, blinking eyes. There was a long, all-too-quiet pause.  
_

_"Well, I have to hand it to you, shrimp - that was graceful. And not dangerous in the least."  
_

_A gun's lock clicked._

_Edward smiled a casual, "Oh-shit" smile, and held up his hands. Or hand, for the automail one, of course, had decided that it had had enough for today, and now hung limply at his side. He sweatdropped. "Just...dropping in?"_

--

**To Be Continued**


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